nema: a 1960s mali orchestra, a love song and a word with no english translation

djama ko: the pandemic commission that almost never happened

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, made sure it all came together. the commission paid the players and supported the video. without them this song might have stayed on the shelf. marcelo passed earlier this year. this one is for him. in this episode you'll hear the guitar lick inspired by norman greenbaum's spirit in the sky, the home studio demo recorded entirely during the pandemic, mariama talking about what djama ko really means, and a studio version featuring martin perna of antibalas on flute and kevin goldberg on bass. this is the gold transmission. we go behind the curtain so you can hear how the music actually gets made. 9poFEyrocff4P25xeEHW

nema: a 1960s mali orchestra, a love song and a word with no english translation

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. the song was inspired by a track called tasi doni by super biton de segou, one of the great malian orchestras of the 1960s and 1970s. erich has had the privilege of meeting some of the members on visits back to segou. the vibe of that track, not any specific element, became the seed of nema. you'll hear the initial guitar loop, a lead guitar part that got so hot it ended up becoming the horn lines, and the full demo before the album version. this is the gold transmission. we go behind the curtain so you can hear how the music actually gets made.

dakan, a song about destiny

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 dakan means to her. how destiny shows up in the big things and the small ones. singing, dancing, sewing clothes, braiding hair, coming to america. all of it woven together. we also give a shout out to sergio rios, who mixed the record and brought something really special to mariama's vocals. this is the gold transmission. we go behind the curtain so you can hear how the music actually gets made.

introducing the gold transmission

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 singer and artist originally from mali, west africa. together we make psychedelic rock rooted in the music and traditions of mali. this podcast is our attempt to share more of that world with you. we're starting with the songs. after that, who knows.