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.

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.