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 good people at stax records in memphis. it's not new. but the intention we're bringing to it might be.

because one of the biggest obstacles to a world where everyone belongs is the spell of supremacy. and the way it manifests unconsciously in all of us. it's about deprogramming. about why music is a side door into that work in ways that direct conversation sometimes isn't.

we hope you follow orchestra gold for the music. and stick around for the deprogramming.

this is the gold transmission.

want to go deeper? the vault is where we keep the good stuff. podcasts (ad-free!), demos, unreleased recordings, behind-the-scenes music and more. starts at $4 a month.
orchestragold.com/vault
.
and if you want to take a piece of us home, our music really comes alive on wax:
orchestragold.com/store

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 with one of the most respected voices in mali. this episode goes into who they are, what bko and djine bora mean, and a track by track walk through the album's best moments.

this is bko's third album. buy it on bandcamp.
this is the gold transmission.

want to go deeper? the vault is where we keep the good stuff. podcasts (ad-free!), demos, unreleased recordings, behind-the-scenes music and more. starts at $4 a month.
orchestragold.com/vault
.
and if you want to take a piece of us home, our music really comes alive on wax:
orchestragold.com/store

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 the importance of instrument, region, and ethnic tradition. he explains the bamana word for music and the word for speaking, and why they're the same word. he talks about the donso people, the hunters' tradition that came up in our zani diabaté episode, in much more depth here. and he walks through what he calls mali's second independence, the push to get out of the french monetary system, the roots of the tuareg crisis in gaddafi's fall in libya, and what it actually looks like to try to build something clean out of all of it.

before the interview, erich shares some personal reflections on privilege, racial hierarchy, and why this is everyone's work, not just the work of people directly targeted by it.

the audio is a little rough, recorded outdoors, but the information is worth it.

want to go deeper? the vault is where we keep the good stuff. podcasts (ad-free!), demos, unreleased recordings, behind-the-scenes music and more. starts at $4 a month.
orchestragold.com/vault
.
and if you want to take a piece of us home, our music really comes alive on wax:
orchestragold.com/store

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 orchestras west africa ever produced, and somewhere along the way mastered a wah pedal.

this episode goes inside his playing. the accompaniment work that shifts behind a singer to bring out a different side of a song. the way structure in this music isn't absent, it's just different, built on repetition and vibe instead of verse and chorus, and why that reminds erich so much of jane's addiction. the delay on the vocals that shows up at malian street ceremonies and in orchestra gold both. the donso hunters' tradition running underneath all of it.

we also get into where super djata's living legacy is today, from les héritiers, the descendants who carried zani's sound forward after he died in 2011, to bamba wassoulou groove, still touring today and built by super djata's own former conga player.

this is the gold transmission.

want to go deeper? the vault is where we keep the good stuff. podcasts (ad-free!), demos, unreleased recordings, behind-the-scenes music and more. starts at $4 a month.
orchestragold.com/vault
.
and if you want to take a piece of us home, our music really comes alive on wax:
orchestragold.com/store

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 instead of flattening it. if you collect African vinyl, or you care about how power and colonialism show up inside the music industry, this one's worth your time.
●
⋄ original show notes ⋄

— from Afropop Worldwide

The golden age of vinyl records is long past in Africa, but the market for rare and reissued African vinyl outside the continent has been growing steadily since the early 2000s. DJs and collectors have turned an obsession with rare records and forgotten gems from Cape Town to Tangiers into an international reissue and compilation industry, led by record labels such as Soundway, Strut and Analog Africa. This program explores some of the complex and shifting dynamics of neocolonialism, cultural ownership and audience in the African vinyl market. We’ll hear stories from label owners, DJs and artists, touching on controversies around Nigerian disco funk reissues, new career opportunities for sometimes-obscure African artists, the unique vinyl culture in South Africa, and much more.

Produced by Morgan Greenstreet and Alejandro Van Zandt-Escobar, with Nenim Iwebuke.
APWW #749

want to go deeper? the vault is where we keep the good stuff. podcasts (ad-free!), demos, unreleased recordings, behind-the-scenes music and more. starts at $4 a month.
orchestragold.com/vault
.
and if you want to take a piece of us home, our music really comes alive on wax:
orchestragold.com/store

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 instead of flattening it. if you collect African vinyl, or you care about how power and colonialism show up inside the music industry, this one's worth your time.

http://whitepeopleblackmusic.com/

want to go deeper? the vault is where we keep the good stuff. podcasts (ad-free!), demos, unreleased recordings, behind-the-scenes music and more. starts at $4 a month.
orchestragold.com/vault
.
and if you want to take a piece of us home, our music really comes alive on wax:
orchestragold.com/store

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 sounded like.
bwati kono in the club, released on kanaga system krush in 2010, was recorded live in two sessions at bamako nightclubs. produced by aja salvatore, mixed and mastered by oz fritz. it's raw and fat and alive. guitar player magazine called it lobi's best album ever.

this episode also gets into something that's been on my mind. the phrase "desert blues" and why it doesn't exist as a genre in mali. we talk about how malians actually talk about music, the lomaxes, andrew hickey, and what happens when people outside a culture decide what the music means and who it's for.

and a personal note. it’s me trying to reconcile the very last conversation I had with Lobi back in 2008.
this is the gold transmission. we go behind the curtain so you can hear how the music actually gets made.

THE ALBUM
Bwati Kono — Lobi Traoré — stream or buy on Bandcamp individual tracks:
Makono · Banan Ni · Jama · Mali Ba
FEED DROP — THIS WEEK
A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs — Episode 13 Andrew Hickey on the Lomaxes and what happens when white collectors shape how white audiences hear Black music. essential listening alongside this episode.
LOBI TRAORÉ
Lobi Traoré on YouTube Maliweb obituary — "le précurseur du bamanan blues n'est plus"
BASSEKOU KOUYATÉ
Bassekou Kouyaté on YouTube — the ngoni / jeli side of the ségou bambara tradition
MOHAMMED DIAWARA — ERICH'S TEACHER FROM SÉGOU
two episodes from the orchestra gold youtube channel: episode 1 · episode 2
OZ FRITZ — ENGINEER
ozfritz.com
BAMBARA LANGUAGE
bambara.org lexicon — reference for bambara words and spellings
ORCHESTRA GOLD
vault · store · @orchestragold · [email protected]

want to go deeper? the vault is where we keep the good stuff. podcasts (ad-free!), demos, unreleased recordings, behind-the-scenes music and more. starts at $4 a month.
orchestragold.com/vault
.
and if you want to take a piece of us home, our music really comes alive on wax:
orchestragold.com/store

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 hear the previously unreleased demo, the doubled guitar and bass that gave it that heft, and the full studio version recorded on tape at guerilla studios in east oakland with engineer myles boisen.
this is the gold transmission. we go behind the curtain so you can hear how the music actually gets made.


REFERENCE TRACKS
Maribayassa — Rail Band featuring Mory Kante
Abdoulaye Diakite — djembe album, Tambacounda, Senegal

ENGINEER
Myles Boisen — Guerilla Studios, East Oakland
Myles Boisen — Working Class Audio interview

OG
vault · store ·
@orchestragold ·
[email protected]


want to go deeper? the vault is where we keep the good stuff. podcasts (ad-free!), demos, unreleased recordings, behind-the-scenes music and more. starts at $4 a month.
orchestragold.com/vault
.
and if you want to take a piece of us home, our music really comes alive on wax:
orchestragold.com/store

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 personal reflection on colorblindness, the narrative that says we shouldn't see race, and why erich has come to see that as a form of denial rather than progress. it connects directly to what djama is actually about: belonging, community, and what it means to build spaces where everyone can show up fully.
plus, you'll hear two iterations of the demo, the story of how the song came together in segu before mariama came to the us, and the full album version recorded at coyote hearing with luke bace engineering while simultaneously playing bass.

this is the gold transmission. we go behind the curtain so you can hear how the music actually gets made.

show notes links

REFERENCE TRACKS
Karasho (Karamo Keita) — the malian folkloric tradition the song draws from
youtube.com/watch?v=fCCnRoLDFCw

Bulls on Parade — Rage Against the Machine — the guitar riff inspiration
youtube.com/watch?v=3L4YrGaR8E4

MALIAN RHYTHMS
N'gri — the djembe line Leila plays in the conga solo (Seydou Balo on djembe)
youtu.be/yRj3ZnMz4HA

Sunu — the drum pattern in the ending donso section (Drissa Kone Quartett)
youtu.be/6ZZIZJeib88

COLLABORATORS
Luke Bace — first bass player, engineer on this session and Dakan
lukebace.com
instagram.com/lakecube

Orchestra GOLD:
• vault: orchestragold.com/vault
• store: orchestragold.com/store
• instagram: @orchestragold
• email: [email protected]

want to go deeper? the vault is where we keep the good stuff. podcasts (ad-free!), demos, unreleased recordings, behind-the-scenes music and more. starts at $4 a month.
orchestragold.com/vault
.
and if you want to take a piece of us home, our music really comes alive on wax:
orchestragold.com/store

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 your values rather than just claim them. it's the kind of thing that doesn't always make it into a song but lives underneath all of them.

the song itself has roots in a standard from the music of segu, mali. mariama built her own version from the ground up. the bass line and drum groove came fully formed from her head, sparked by a moment she heard erich playing guitar from across the house while she was watching a nigerian movie. the second half draws from a deep cut from the new york salsa scene of the 60s and 70s: anabacoa by grupo folklorico y experimental nuevayorquino. there's also a hard rock dimension, a real guitar solo, and a shout out to luke bacé who engineered the sessions.


mariama explains the song's message in her own words. including one of the best analogies we've heard involving ice cream. this is the gold transmission. we go behind the curtain so you can hear how the music actually gets made.

1. anabacoa — grupo folklorico y experimental nuevayorquino
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhbtvm72d04
(from the 1975 album concepts in unity on salsoul records) 

2. luke bacé — instagram
https://www.instagram.com/lakecube 

3. a history of music in 500 songs
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-history-of-music-in-500-songs/id1437402802 



want to go deeper? the vault is where we keep the good stuff. podcasts (ad-free!), demos, unreleased recordings, behind-the-scenes music and more. starts at $4 a month.
orchestragold.com/vault
.
and if you want to take a piece of us home, our music really comes alive on wax:
orchestragold.com/store