The Gold Transmission

this episode is a little different. no song breakdown. no demo. just the why. orchestra gold is built on a simple but demanding idea: that the unique alchemy that happens when people of very different identities come together has medicine in it. not just symbolically. practically. the person least like you has what you most need. that idea goes back to sly stone, carlos santana, antibalas, the goo...

this episode is about bko, a malian ensemble from bamako, and their album djine bora, one of the most singular records to come out of mali in recent years. djine bora bridges donso hunters' music, maninka jeli music, and an edgy rock feel. three things that almost never cross in mali. the band runs on two ngoni players holding down separate registers, a warrior style djembe player, and a singer wi...

if lobi traoré and zani diabaté got you leaning into malian music, this episode goes inside the marrow of it. this one is a conversation with yacine kouyaté, a dear friend, recorded in his courtyard in bamako back in 2022, originally shot for youtube and repurposed here for the podcast. yacine goes deep into how malians actually think about and categorize (or don't!) their own music, highlighting...

this episode is about super djata band and zani diabaté, one of the most important guitar players you've probably never heard of, and why the through line from muddy waters to jane's addiction to bambara music is not a coincidence. zani diabaté was one of mali's most extraordinary guitarists, and few outside mali knows his name. he founded super djata band in bamako, built one of the fiercest orch...

this is an investigative piece on the vinyl reissue market, and it might be some of the best reporting I've heard in this space. Afropop Worldwide's Morgan Greenstreet lets label owners, DJs, and artists speak for themselves, and the nuances of the story come through because of it. I've seen artists recorded in Mali who didn't get their fair shake, and this episode sits inside that complexity inst...

this is an investigative piece on the vinyl reissue market, and it might be some of the best reporting I've heard in this space. Afropop Worldwide's Morgan Greenstreet lets label owners, DJs, and artists speak for themselves, and the nuances of the story come through because of it. I've seen artists recorded in Mali who didn't get their fair shake, and this episode sits inside that complexity inst...

lobi traoré was one of the most extraordinary guitarists mali ever produced. he called his own songs "chants orphelins, mélancoliques." orphaned, melancholic songs. he died in 2010 at 49, leaving a legacy of beautiful music that sits outside of any one genre. this episode is about him. and about the album that finally captured (in my humble opinion) the beautiful complexity of what he actually sou...

maribayassa is a spirit in malian folklore with the power to grant wishes. and around that spirit there is a story. this episode opens with a reflection on belonging, supremacy, and what it actually means to use privilege in service of a more inclusive world. it connects directly to what maribayassa is about at its core: responsibility, consequences, and the things we owe to each other. you'll hea...

djama means people in bambara. it's the first song orchestra gold ever finished and in many ways it's still the blueprint. the guitar riff is what happens when malian folklore meets bulls on parade by rage against the machine. erich grew up on 90s guitar rock, tom morello, pantera, dave navarro, and somehow that world collided with the music of mali and became this. this episode opens with a perso...

diyanye ko te sa means insatiable desires in bambara. it's the other side of the coin from diyanye ko, the first track on the album. where that one is about passion and love and community, this one is a gentle reminder: not all of your desires come from your higher self ☀ this episode opens with a personal reflection on supremacy, who benefits from whose music, and what it means to actually live y...

baye ass n'diaye is the name of mariama's spiritual teacher in the baye fall tradition. baye fall is a mystical branch of west african sufism that centers on the direct experience of the divine over any letter of the law. this song is a praise song for him.in this episode mariama talks about what baye fall means to her and why she wanted to write a song for her teacher. then we go inside the makin...

djama ko means people in bambara, the language of mali. and this episode is dedicated to someone who helped make the song possible. in 2020, arts consultant preston justice nominated orchestra gold for a yerba buena gardens festival mini commission, a program supporting 20 bay area artists around the themes of endurance, hope and community. marcelo aviles, director of programming at ybg festival,...

nema is a word in bambara that doesn't translate directly into english. it means something like freshness, the feeling after rain, the warmth of having someone you love next to you. mariama says love and nema work together but they're not the same thing. english doesn't quite have it. in this episode mariama explains what nema means and why it became a love song. then we go inside the making of it...

dakan means destiny in bambara, the language of mali. it's also the title of one of our favorite tracks on the new record. in this episode we go inside the song. you'll hear the guitar lick that started it all, the drum groove we borrowed from rail band's classic track nanthan, and the full demo version before it became what you hear on the album. mariama also sits down with us to talk about what...

we don't entirely know what this podcast is yet. we know where it's starting. we just don't know where it's going. that's the honest intro to the gold transmission, a new podcast from orchestra gold where we take you behind the curtain. the songs, the demos, the stories, the stuff that never makes it out of the studio. orchestra gold is a band co-founded by erich huffaker and mariama diakite, a si...