journal.nonesuch.com

Time Out NY: Orchestra Baobab Prove to Be Specialists in Many Styles on New Album

With Orchestra Baobab's new album, Made in Dakar, due out on Tuesday, the group's co-founder Barthélemy Attisso spoke with Time Out New York about the new album, the forthcoming tour, and the joys of bringing their music to the rest of the world.

Time Out's K. Leander Williams writes that Attisso has "been singled out as one of the most distinctive guitarist-arrangers the African continent has produced." In 2002, that singular sound met with another iconic musical ambassador when Youssou N'Dour produced what Williams calls the group's "triumphant reunion album," Specialist in All Styles. N'Dour's guest vocals on the new album leads to the "gorgeous update" of the band's classic song "Nijaay" and proves another example of the band's effort to showcase as many of their musical interests as possible:

Along with the harder-edged album tracks "Sibam" and "Ndeleng Ndeleng," the new version of "Nijaay" has been subtly outfitted with rhythmic flourishes that mirror the griot music N'Dour turned into the Senegalese rock style mbalax.

To read the article, visit timeout.com/newyork.

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Click here to pre-order Orchestra Baobab's Made in Dakar CD now for $16 and download the album MP3s, including the exclusive Nonesuch Store bonus track, "Mamadou," on release day, May 20.

Click here to add 2002's Specialist in All Styles  directly to your Shopping Cart for $16 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

NY Times: Orchestra Baobab's New Album Likely Year's Most "Buoyant, Affirmative-Sounding"

"There isn't likely to be a more buoyant or affirmative-sounding release this year than Made in Dakar by the legendary Orchestra Baobab," writes the New York Times music critic Nate Chinen of the forthcoming collection of classic tunes from the Senegalese group, due out next Tuesday and available now for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store. He continues:

The beguiling guitar work of Barthélemy Attisso would be enough to recommend the album, were it not for a breezily amalgamated babble of grooves (high life, rumba, calypso, guajira) and dialects (Wolof, Malinké, Portuguese Creole).

An additional highlight Chinen points to is the song "Nijaay," "a reinvigorated classic" that features a guest vocal from Youssou N'Dour. Read the review at nytimes.com.

You can listen to "Nijaay" now at Pitchfork, which is streaming the tune through imeem. Pitchfork's Drew F. Hinshaw says that "the enduring international popularity of the band and their Spanish-speaking cousins in the Buena Vista Social Club" shows that the combination of cross-cultural, Afro-Cuban sounds in which both bands excel, "just works."

Hinshaw writes of the updated version of "Nijaay" recorded for Made in Dakar:

No matter what corner of the Afro-Cuban continent you hail from, there's something to dig, be it Nigerian saxophonist Peter Udo's Coltrane impression, the swirling guitar runs spilling out of Togolese Barthelemy Attisso, or the vocal contributions of Youssou N'Dour. The conga flutters even tell an interesting story, about ocean crossings and musical adaptations.

To listen, visit pitchforkmedia.com.

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Click here to pre-order Orchestra Baobab's Made in Dakar CD now for $16 and download the album MP3s, including the exclusive Nonesuch Store bonus track, "Mamadou," on release day, May 20.

Youssou N'Dour Marks Malaria Awareness Day with White House Meeting, NYC Benefit Concert

Youssou N'Dour was in Washington, DC, last Friday for a meeting at the White House with President Bush in honor of Malaria Awareness Day. Reuters reports that the two discussed the recent rise in the cost of food around the world and the resulting political instability, both of which have made the world's poorest all the more susceptible to malaria-causing conditions. Youssou is working to raise both awareness and the funds to eradicate the disease in part through such simple, cheap, and highly effective means as mosquito netting. Following his meetings in Washington during the day, Youssou made his way to New York City for an intimate benefit concert at Joe's Pub Friday night. For coverage of Youssou's Malaria Awareness Day activities in Washington, visit reuters.com.

Nonesuch Events This Weekend

Below is information on just some of the many events going on this weekend across the globe featuring Nonesuch artists. Enjoy!

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Violinist Leila Josefowicz will join the Saint Louis Symphony, led by conductor Marin Alsop, for three performances of John Adams's The Dharma at Big Sur this weekend at Powell Hall in St. Louis. Also tonight, the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra led by Raymond Leppard will perform Adams's Violin Concerto at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao, Spain, featuring violinist Chlöe Hanslip, and the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI led by Trevor Pinnock will perform the composer's 1990 orchestration of Liszt's The Black Gondola, in Turin, Italy.

Saturday night, the San Francisco Ballet presents the Mark Morris Dance Group's Joyride, featuring Adams's Son of Chamber Symphony, at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, as part of the continuing New Works Festival.

Adams's Short Ride in a Fast Machine gets three playings this weekend: Saturday night at the Saenger Theater in Mobile, Alabama, by Scott Speck and the Mobile Symphony, and Bloomington High School in Bloomington, Indiana, by Jose Valencia and the Musical Arts Youth Orchestra; and Sunday night at Royal Albert Hall, London, by Mark Gooding and the Harrow Young Musicians Philharmonic.

More information: boosey.com.

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Kronos Quartet plays the last of three performances at the Mondavi Center at the University of California, Davis, tonight: John Cage's Thirty Pieces for String Quartet with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Tickets: mondaviarts.org.

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Laurie Anderson will bring Homeland to the Moscow International Performing Arts Center in Russia on Saturday. On Sunday night, Laurie will join the weekend-long Symposium on Sound, a gathering of scientists, performers, and artists, at Leiden University in the Netherlands, for a discussion of the event's theme of mutual influence between art and science, especially as it relates to sound. Info: veenfabriek.nl.

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T Bone Burnett continues his tour with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss at New Orleans' famed Jazz & Heritage Festival, aka Jazz Fest. The three are scheduled to take the Acura Stage this afternoon at 3:30 PM. Next, they'll head to Birmingham, Alabama, where they'll play the BJCC Arena Saturday night. Tickets: nojazzfest.com (4/25); bjcc.org (4/26).

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Bill Frisell closes out his two week residency at New York's Village Vanguard with performances all weekend. Playing with Bill are Chris Cheek on sax, Ron Miles on trumpet, Tony Scherr on bass, and Rudy Royston on drums. Tickets: villagevanguard.com.

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Satyagraha, Philip Glass's 1980 opera centered around Mahatma Gandhi's early years in South Africa, continues tonight at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The performance is sold out. More information: metoperafamily.org.

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Richard Goode will perform a free concert in New York City as part of the annual Free for All at Town Hall concert series. See the post in today's Nonesuch Journal for more information.

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Emmylou Harris takes the stage at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in downtown Nashville tonight for Premiere Evening, an annual fund-raising event to benefit the Center's educational and cultural programming. Tickets: tpac.org.

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k.d. lang's continues the Australian leg of her Watershed tour at the Entertainment Center in Adelaide Saturday night. Tickets: theaec.net.

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Brad Mehldau is in Quebec, Canada, tonight for a solo show at the Palais Montcalm. He returns to the States on Saturday for a performance with the trio with whom he recorded the new album Live at the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, and a Sunday night show at the Annenberg Center's Zellerbach Theater in Philadelphia. Tickets: palaismontcalm.ca (4/25); hop.dartmouth.edu (4/26); pennpresents.org (4/27).

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Youssou N'Dour will perform a special benefit concert tonight at New York's intimate venue Joe's Pub as part of a fund-raising effort for the Youssou N'Dour Foundation and his worldwide advocacy efforts. The acoustic set will be modeled on the smaller sets he leads at his club in Dakar. Tickets: joespub.com.

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Randy Newman will play a solo date tonight at the Riley Center at Mississippi State University's Meridian Campus. Tickets: msurileycenter.com.

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Nicholas Payton stays close to home for New Orleans' Jazz Fest. He and his quintet will take the stage in the WWOZ Jazz Tent at 4:05 PM on Sunday. Among the other performers at this year's festival are Stevie Wonder and Al Green, as well as Robert Plant and Alison Krauss with T Bone Burnett (see above). Tickets: nojazzfest.com.

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Steve Reich's Eight Lines will be performed by Ensemble Intercontemporain led by Ludovic Morlot tonight at Cité de la musique, Salle des concerts, in Paris.

Reich's Desert Music, will presented at the University of California, Berkeley, Saturday, as Drumming will be performed by percussionist Colin Currie at the Concert Hall in Perth, Scotland. Currie earned four stars in the Herald (UK) for his performance there earlier this week of Reich's Music for Pieces of Wood that "mesmerised." Also Saturday, the Smith Quartet brings the Triple Quartet to the Jacqueline du Pre Music Building in Oxford, England.

On Sunday, Reich's Cello Counterpoint will be performed at the Purcell Room in London by Endymion and his Vermont Counterpoint can be heard at Ford Hall at Ithaca College, with Melissa Wertheimer on flute.

More information: boosey.com

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The national tour of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, based on the 2005 Broadway production helmed by John Doyle, began its run at Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre early this week. Performances continue there through May 4. Tickets: sweeneytoddtour.com

Independent (UK): Four Stars to Youssou N'Dour's London Show

Youssou N'Dour was in London this week to perform with his Super Etoile band at Indig02, and The Independent (UK) gives the show four stars. Reviewing the event, writer Tim Cumming refers to the latest Nonesuch release from Youssou and the band, Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take), as "a muscular recording inflected by the blues, reggae and Cuban rhythms that originated from, and returned to, West Africa, alongside rhythms from the north of Senegal." Cumming sees it as "the weave of percussion, bass lines and quicksilver guitars with N'Dour's extraordinary voice that stands out. His singing is a rhythmic device as much as an emotional force."

To read the concert review, visit independent.co.uk. To listen to songs from Rokku Mi Rokka and to watch a short documentary on the record, visit nonesuch.com/youssou.

Youssou N'Dour to Join Gnarls Barkley, Deerhoof for KCRW's World Festival

On April 1, Youssou N'Dour will stop at the London venue Indig02 as part of a European tour. In advance of the London show, Youssou sat down for an interview with The Independent's Nick Duerden, who calls the singer's latest Nonesuch release, Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take),

an infectious, highly rhythmic delight, his voice permeating everything like a snake in a hurry. As ever, he sings almost exclusively in Wolof, but for those of us not fluent in the language, its emotion shines through.

To read the interview, visit independent.co.uk.

Later this year, Youssou will be among the performers at the 10th running of KCRW's World Festival at the Hollywood Bowl. He's scheduled to perform on July 27, sharing the bill with Deerhoof and Gnarls Barkley, whose Danger Mouse produced The Black Keys forthcoming Attack & Release. Other festival participants this summer include Thievery Corporation with Seu George, Bebel Gilberto, Devendra Banhart, Gilberto Gil , Feist, and Michael Franti & Spearhead, whose song "Oh My God" appears on the soundtrack to HBO's The Wire ... and all the pieces matter.

Solomon Burke, another contributor to the Wire soundtrack, will play the Hollywood Bowl with Etta James on August 13; also performing at the venue this summer is Brian Wilson, who is slated to join the Los Angeles Philharmonic to close their summer season, September 12-14.

You'll find the complete KCRW World Festival schedule and artist listing on pitchforkmedia.com. For the complete Hollywood Bowl schedule, visit hollywoodbowl.com.

Youssou N'Dour Teams Up with Benetton to Promote Microlending in Africa

Youssou N'Dour has joined forces with Benetton, whose global communication campaign for 2008, Africa Works, will support Birima, the Senegalese micro-credit co-operative founded by Youssou. The international clothing company will create TV and print ads featuring recipients of loans from Birima (an example of which is at right) to promote the organization and will offer direct financial support as well.

The Independent (UK)'s Christena Appleyard attended the announcement of the joint venture (Benetton's first-ever involvement with a direct-action program) in Dakar by Youssou and the fashion firm's deputy chairman, Alessandro Benetton. The pair hope that Birima, which offers long-term loans, guaranteed by Youssou, to encourage entrepreneurship on a local level, will provide a successful model for further investment in the continent.

As Appleyard reports, Youssou is looking beyond the traditional aid model of charity towards the more productive distribution of repayable loans. In his words:

We are not here to ask for charity. It's a matter of dignity for the African people. I see this as a turning point. If people can't work, they lose their dignity. Working with [U2 singer] Bono, we managed to create a new diplomacy. By getting access to the right people, a lot has been achieved. But I believe this is now the way forward for us and hopefully for the rest of Africa.

For complete coverage of the announcement, including an interview with Alessandro Benetton and further input from Youssou, visit independent.co.uk.

Also, visit benetton.com for more information on Africa Works, to watch a video of a special recording of Youssou's song "Birima," and to learn more about the loan recipients who have already benefited from the efforts of Birima the organization.

Listen to the original album version of "Birima," off Youssou's Nonesuch debut, Joko (The Link), here:

LA Times: Amadou & Mariam's "Dimanche à Bamako" Is One of Century's Sunniest

In an effort to expand the musical palate of Vampire Weekend fans newly taken to the sounds of Afro-pop, which the band references in its work, the Los Angeles Times offers some "relatively recent gems" from Africa's diverse musical offerings. Included is Amadou & Mariam's Manu Chao-produced album Dimanche à Bamako, which the Times' Ann Powers says "ranks as one of the sunniest musical outings released this century." She writes: "Some tracks boogie like classic rock, others roll along on those gloriously languorous Malian rhythms, some flirt with hip-hop. Every one will make you jump up and dance."

And, the article concludes, "that's just the tiniest foray into African pop—we didn’t even mention such obvious notables as Vieux Farka Toure [Ali Farka Toure's son], Orchestra Baobab, Youssou N'Dour, and Rokia Traore."

For the complete article, visit theguide.latimes.com.

Youssou N'Dour Nominated for NAACP Image Award

Youssou N’Dour's Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take) has been nominated for an NAACP Image Award as Outstanding World Music Album. Established in 1967, the Awards are the nation's premier honor celebrating outstanding projects and individuals that promote diversity in the arts in television, recording, literature, and motion pictures. The 39th NAACP Image Awards will air live February 14 on Fox. For more information and the complete list of nominees, visit naacp.org.

N'Dour, Veloso, Ferrer Albums Among Years Best, Says KEXP

KEXP, 90.3, Seattle, has posted the Top Ten lists from its Specialty Shows DJs. Youssou N'Dour's Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take) was among the year's favorites of Jon Kertzer, the station's expert on African and Afro-Caribbean music. Caetano Veloso's Cê and Ibrahim Ferrer's Mi Sueño are on the list from Darek Mazzone, whose show covers Modern Global Music.

For all the Best of 2007 lists from the KEXP Specialty Shows DJs, visit kexp.org.

Youssou N'Dour on Best of 2007 List from WNYC's Siddhartha Mitter

Youssou N'Dour's Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take) has made the Best of 2007 list from Siddhartha Mitter, a Boston Globe contributor and a reporter for WNYC, New York Public Radio.

For Siddhartha's complete list of favorites, visit wnyc.org.

Toronto Star: "Another Breakthrough" from Youssou N'Dour

Giving Youssou N'Dour's Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take) four out of four stars and naming it the CD pick of the week, the Toronto Star says the new album is "another breakthrough" following Youssou's string of groundbreaking records with Nothing's in Vain and Egypt. Writes the Star's John Goddard, Rokku Mi Rokka features "rich, instrumental textures and soaring melodies" and should bring Youssou the "smash, crossover success" he deserves.

To read the review, visit thestar.com.

LA Times: Redman, N'Dour Among Best of 2007

The Los Angeles Times has revealed its pop music critics' lists of their favorites for the year. On staff writer Dan Heckman's list for the best in jazz is Joshua Redman's Back East and for the best in world music, Youssou N'Dour's Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take).

Heckman calls Redman "one of the rare under-40 musicians who are making waves" and says the new album showcases "his ability to star in the difficult saxophone-bass-drums instrumental format." And with Youssou's new record, writes Heckman, "The irresistible appeal of N'Dour's emotion-laden voice and irresistibly body-moving music has reached well beyond the arena of African music"

For the complete list from the Times, visit latimes.com.

NPR Music: Year's Best Include Many Nonesuch Arists

NPR's music programs and reviewers are turning in their lists for the Best of 2007, and a number of Nonesuch artists are among the top choices from public radio.

Wilco's Sky Blue Sky tops World Cafe's list of the best albums of the year. Writes the show's host, David Dye: "As the year progresses, it's remarkable when an album from earlier in the year has staying power." But for Dye, Sky Blue Sky proves that it can be done.

For the complete World Cafe list, click here.

Banning Eyre, the music reviewer for All Things Considered and the senior editor at afropop.org, has three Nonesuch artists on his list of the Top Ten of 2007: Caetano Veloso, an artist "of Dylan-esque stature," with the album Cê; the "legendary" Sérgio and Odair Assad, whose Jardim Abandonado showcases their mastery at turning music from any genre into "a thing of warmth and perfection in their hands"; and Youssou N'Dour who sings on Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take) with "one of the most inspiring and vital voices in pop music anywhere today."

For Eyre's Top Ten, click here.

NPR's member stations are also weighing in with their pics. On the list for "Top Ten Jazz Jewels of 2007" from WDUQ in Pittsburgh is the Metheny/Mehldau Quartet record. And Wilco's "Hate It Here," from Sky Blue Sky, is among the best songs of the year, according to Austin station KUT's music director, Jeff McCord. He calls the song "a simple tune so slyly infectious that the CDC has their eye on it ... Wilco has made one of its finest albums to date. And that’s saying a lot."

For WDUQ's list of the best in jazz, click here. For the KUT song list, click here.

You can listen to tracks from each of the albums and songs on the list by clicking on the links above or by visiting npr.org.

Youssou N'Dour Closes US Tour with "Scintillating" Show

Last night, Youssou N'Dour performed the closing show of his current US tour before a sold-out crowd at the Somerville Theatre, just outside Boston. According to the Herald, "the singer with the astounding pipes" led the audience through "two sweaty, dance-inducing hours" of songs throughout his career, including his latest album, Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take). And by the end of the show, writes the Herald's Bob Young, "N’Dour left no doubt that he—and Africa—still rule the world of scintillating powerhouse grooves." In last night's tour closer, "N’Dour showed why he’s one of pop music’s most commanding performers."

To read the complete review, visit bostonherald.com.

Boston Globe: A "Defining Album" from Youssou N'Dour "At His Best"

As Youssou N'Dour prepares for the last stop on his US tour, tonight at the Somerville Theatre outside Boston, Siddhartha Mitter, the Boston Globe correspondent, reflects on the impact the "wildly talented" Senegalese singer/songwriter has had as a key figure in contributing to and re-defining the genre of world music.

Paramount to Youssou's musical life as an "international treasure" has been the sorts of exchanges that take place across borders and even within a culture, so it's only fitting that that back-and-forth should figure in his latest album, Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take):

[H]is own work, exemplified by his newest album, Rokku Mi Rokka, and its 2005 predecessor, Egypt, is as fresh and searching as it has been in years ... On the strength of his soaring, grace-drenched voice and his insatiable appetite for rhythmic and melodic experimentation, he has rewritten the book several times over on what "world music" ...  is and can be.

To read Mitter's complete article, click here.

In a separate article in the Globe, writer Tristram Lozaw reviews the new album, writing that, most profoundly, Youssou has created "striking new tribal hybrids" of rural and urban sounds within Senegal and the surrounding countries rather than between the East and West. He writes:

The 48-year-old N'Dour's voice resonates with the clarity of a singer decades younger, his high notes transcendent over the acoustic pulse of his pared-down Super Étoile band ... Together, their adrenaline-powered grooves are warmly melodic, attractive in their simplicity ...

Ultimately, Rokku Mi Rokka is, in Lozaw's words, "a defining album that showcases N'Dour at his organic best."

To read the review, click here.

Chicago Greets Youssou N'Dour with a "Beyond-Enthusiastic" Crowd

Among the many roles Youssou N'Dour has come to play, he has come to be known "as one of the planet's true superstars and a beacon of African pride," writes Joshua Klein in the Chicago Tribune. This, and Youssou's performance before a "beyond-enthusiastic" crowd at the House of Blues this past Wednesday night, has left Klein wishing for the Senegalese superstar "a stateside audience proportional to his international reputation."

At Wednesday's show, Youssou's singing was "as strong and rich as it's ever been, writes Klein, and his band, Super Étoile de Dakar proved itself "the rare band entirely deserving of the 'super,' perfectly composed to push ahead but constantly poised for stop-on-a-dime shifts."

To read the complete review, visit chicagotribune.com.

Youssou and the band take their show to more of that stateside audience with a stop in Ann Arbor tomorrow night. For information on the remainder of the US tour for the new album , Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take), click here.

N'Dour, Diabaté, Anderson Presented by Boston's World Music/CRASHarts

Boston-based World Music/CRASHarts will be presenting Youssou N'Dour and the Super Étoile band this Monday, December 10, at the Somerville Theatre. Today's Boston Globe previews the next phase of the organization's winter and spring schedule, which includes a broad range of artists from around the world, from Toumani Diabaté's pan-African Symmetric Orchestra, also at the Somerville, on February 2, to New York's own Laurie Anderson, who will bring her new piece, Homeland, to the Boston Opera House on March 29.

To read the Globe preview, visit boston.com. For the complete schedule and ticket information, visit worldmusic.org.

LA Times: Youssou N'Dour's "Constantly Compelling" Show

As he wrote in his recent preview of Youssou N'Dour's performance with the Super Étoile band at LA's Royce Hall, the Los Angeles Times's Don Heckman was clearly looking forward to Saturday's show there. According to Heckman's concert review in today's Times, Youssou did not disappoint, and the crowd responded in kind, dancing in the aisles—"animated Terpsichores, arms and legs moving wildly in all direction"—despite the hall's restrictions against it. "The sheer vitality of N'Dour's music almost demands physical movement," he writes. And the give-and-take continued, with Youssou responding to the crowd's energy "by dialing up the already dynamic intensity of the music." As Heckman explains:

[T]he music illuminated the essence of his belief—underscored in the title of his recently released CD, Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take)—in the back-and-forth between contemporary African music and the Western Hemisphere sounds and rhythms created by African slaves. The mixture was constantly compelling ... the sheer quality of his voice, capable of delivering an astonishing range of sounds and timbres, combined with Super Etoile's blend of ensemble craft and spontaneous energy, was more than enough to thrust aside any barriers of language and culture.

For the complete review, visit calendarlive.com.

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That rousing performance in LA marked the end of the California leg of Youssou's US tour. Up next, he and the band made their way to Colorado, for a Sunday night set at the Boulder Theater. Previewing that show, Nick Hall wrote in the Denver Westword that "Youssou N'Dour gives world music a good name." For Hall, the back-and-forth to which Heckman refers creates "something infinitely greater than the sum of its parts." Hall writes:

Through incredibly intelligent songcraft and superb musicianship, he creates music that doesn't need the trimmings and trappings of Western acceptance to create a market and foster enthusiasm. Weaving unfamiliar African rhythms around pop structures and then painting them with the vibrant colors of both traditional African acoustic instrumentation and guitars and keyboards, his arresting tenor—regarded as one of the best voices in the world today—floats weightlessly on top, making for a combination that's excitingly different and entirely organic all at once.

For more from Denver, visit westword.com.

Youssou plays one more night in the Rockies with a stop in Aspen tonight before heading east to Chicago's House of Blues this Wednesday. For more tour information, click here.

LA Times: Praise for Youssou N'Dour Is No Stretch

After kicking off the California leg his of US tour last night in Santa Cruz, Youssou N'Dour will make two more stops in northern California before heading down to Los Angeles this Saturday. Gearing up for the concert at UCLA's Royce Hall, the Los Angeles Times praises Youssou's "inimitable vocals, with their seductive timbral span" and argues that "a pretty convincing case could be made for N'Dour as one of the world's most visible and successful international artists."

Writing for the Times's calendarlive.com, Don Heckman says that all of the critical attention Youssou has received over the years, most recently for his album Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take), has not been overstated:

Youssou N'Dour has been called "the African voice of the century" and "one of the world's greatest singers." That may suggest a whiff of hyperbole, but not in the case of N'Dour, who has been thrilling audiences with his contemporized versions of Senegalese mbalax music for nearly three decades, and who was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people this year.

To read more of the LA Times preview, visit calendarlive.com. 

Youssou N'Dour Begins Next Leg of US Tour in CA

After a quick trip to South Africa to perform at the ceremonies for the 2010 World Cup preliminary draw, Youssou N'Dour resumes his North American tour tonight at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz, California. On Friday, he makes his way to San Francisco for the season finale of 25th Annual SF Jazz Festival.

In advance of the special event, SF Weekly's Ernest Barteldes weighs in on Youssou's new record, Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take). "N'Dour shows that he has lost neither charm nor youthful energy," Barteldes writes. "The rhythmically rich music works like a frame around his high-pitched voice, and the music is able to captivate even the most jaded listener, world music fan or otherwise."

For the complete review of Rokku Mi Rokka, visit sfweekly.com.

Youssou N'Dour Visits White House to Discuss Malaria

Youssou N'Dour recently took a break from his North American tour to meet at the White House with aides of First Lady Laura Bush and discuss their respective efforts to fight malaria. He also sat down with Agence France-Presse (AFP), saying, "If the United States wants to win a war, it ought to be the war on malaria."

Youssou works with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis to fight the disease, which kills almost one million children a year in Africa alone. Much of his work has been focused on education, and he is looking now to involve traditional African communicators, like griots, in the cause.

For more information on these efforts, from Youssou's interview with AFP, visit afp.com.

Before making his way to Washington, Youssou performed in Miami, where, the Miami Herald's Jordan Levin reports, "As soon as he started to sing, his soul and charisma transcended any cultural preconceptions ... the power, joy, and humanity of his music need no translation ... His voice is intense, rich, and wonderfully, uniquely expressive." Levin, in his review of the show, also has kind words for Youssou's band, the Super Étoile, "eight superb musicians who play together with dazzling, fluid precision; melody, harmony, and rhythm flowing inextricably together in a powerful river of music."

To read the complete review, visit miamiherald.com.

And right after the White House meeting, Youssou made his way to Philadelphia for his Kimmel Center debut. In that set, Youssou showed "why he is considered one of the world's greatest singers," according to David R. Stampone's review in the Philadelphia Inquirer. In the article, Stampone calls Youssou's voice "a textural wonder."

For more of Stampone's review, titled "Vibrant N'Dour Enchants Kimmel," visit philly.com.

The relentless touring didn't let up after that. After two stellar shows at New York City's Nokia Theatre last Thursday and Friday, Youssou managed to jet down to South Africa. There, in Durban, he performed at ceremonies marking the preliminary draw for soccer's next World Cup, which will be held in South Africa in 2010.

Youssou returns to the States for the next leg of his tour starting this Wednesday, November 28, in Santa Cruz, California. For more information on the tour, click here.

Guardian Names 1,000 Must-Hear Albums (Part 2: N-Z)

The Guardian has revealed the last batch of albums on its list of the 1,000 all-time must-hears. Earlier this week, we brought you Nonesuch artists A through M on the list. Here are N through Z, along with the Guardian's take on each:

• Orchestra Baobab: Specialist in All Styles (World Circuit/Nonesuch; 2002) "Until the arrival of Youssou N'Dour and his frantic mbalax style in the 80s, Orchestra Baobab dominated the Dakar music scene with their fine harmonies and blend of Latin and African styles. Invited to reform after a break of 16 years, they sounded as fresh and engaging as ever—and this time around, the quality of their recordings was vastly improved."

• Astor Piazzolla: Tango Zero Hour (1986, r. 1998) "It's impossible to summarise up the career and influence of the great Argentine nuevo tango composer and bandoneon-player. However, this Kip Hanrahan–produced studio album caught Piazzolla and his New Tango Quintet at the height of their powers."

• Radio Tarifa: Rumba Argelina (World Circuit/Nonesuch; 1993, r. 1997) "For more than a decade, Radio Tarifa were the quintessential world music band, mixing Moorish and African sounds and rhythms with catchy tunes. Singer Benjamin Escoriza adds a gritty charisma to the cleverly crafted studio concoctions of Vincent Molino and Fain S Duenas."

• Oumou Sangare: Moussolou (World Circuit/Nonesuch; 1991, r. 1999) "One of the finest female singers in Mali, Oumou Sangare is a national celebrity both for her songs and for the messages behind them. On this early recording, she was backed by a small band dominated by guitar, kamelngoni and a mournful violin that matches her fine, thoughtful songs of advice to women."

• SF Jazz Collective: SF Jazz Collective (2005) "Under Joshua Redman's leadership, the SFJC pioneered a new approach to jazz repertoire that complements their better-funded counterparts in the 'straight' world. This is the first of a series of beautifully recorded live concerts that uses Ornette Coleman's compositions as a springboard to new work."

• Taraf de Haïdouks: Band of Gypsies (2001) "International success for these gifted Romanians took their government by surprise. This generous and energetic live album boosts the collective's family core with guests including Kocani Orchestra and Bulgarian clarinetist Filip Simeonov, resulting in exultant tracks such as 'Bride in a Red Dress' and the breakneck 'Carolina.'"

• Rokia Traoré: Bowmboï (2004) "The most bravely experimental female performer in Africa, Rokia Traoré started out matching her cool, clear vocals against her own acoustic guitar and traditional instruments such as the ngoni. Here she is joined by the strings of the Kronos Quartet."

• Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002) "By their fourth album, Jeff Tweedy's once stoutly country-rock group had spread their wings. Frazzled Krautrock, shortwave static and Tweedy's lovelorn melodicism formed the basis of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, to stunning effect."

Also listed were Youssou N'Dour (Immigres), Scritti Politti (Songs to Remember), and Caetano Veloso (Definitive Collection [UK]).

Check out the complete list at music.guardian.co.uk.

Youssou N'Dour No. 1 on CMJ New World Chart

The CMJ chart numbers have been released, and Youssou N'Dour's Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take) moves up ten slots—the week's biggest mover—to hit No. 1 on the New World chart.

Youssou performs tonight and tomorrow night at New York City's Nokia Theatre as part of the Great African Ball. For information, visit nokiatheatrenyc.com.

Youssou N'Dour, "Star of the World"

When Youssou N'Dour and his Super Étoile Band performed in Miami last Friday night, the Wall Street Journal's rock and pop music critic Jim Fusilli was there. As he reported in yesterday's paper, it was clearly an experience to remember. Whether Youssou is performing mbalax, for which he first became known around the globe, or the more traditional sounds of his more recent records, the power of his music transcends. Writes Fusilli:

Confident and charismatic, he's a dynamic performer regardless of the style of music he's playing, a smart, stirring songwriter and a remarkable vocalist. Those who know him only through his contribution to Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" or his world-wide hit with Neneh Cherry, "7 Seconds," have experienced but a glimmer of his gifts ... Mr. N'Dour's voice is stunning, elastic and powerful. When he unleashed it to sustain a long, gripping tone, with the band's three percussionists working fervently underneath it, that sound thrilled.

For more from the Wall Street Journal on the Miami show and Youssou's new Nonesuch CD, Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take), visit online.wsj.com.

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On Monday, Youssou's US tour took him to Washington, DC, where he performed at the Kennedy Center. In today's Washington Post review, titled "Star of Dakar—and the World," writer Steve Kiviat reports that Youssou did so "magnificently."

N'Dour effortlessly used his multiple-octave range over the funky mbalax rhythms that have inspired him for decades, along with the northern Senegalese styles heard on his latest CD, Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take), and the Middle Eastern influences displayed on his 2004 release Egypt ... This 40-something artist demonstrated that his reputation as one of the world's greatest singers is not hyperbole.

The complete concert review can be found on washingtonpost.com.

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Tonight and tomorrow night, Youssou brings the show to New York City's Nokia Theatre for the Great African Ball, before making his way west to play the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz, California, November 28. Today's Silicon Valley Metro previews the show with an article by writer Andrew Gilbert that reports on an issue close to both Youssou and the paper's large dot-com-savvy readership—the internet. A few years back, Youssou began the non-profit Joko Project to broaden internet access in Senegal and create locally developed cultural content on the web; he is looking to launch its second phase next year.

"As one of the first African pop stars to emerge in the '80s with a truly global following," Gilbert writes, "he is well placed to spearhead the initiative. Like his music, which draws on and transforms traditional Senegalese musical forms, N'Dour envisions the internet as a way to enhance traditional aspects of West African society."

To read what Youssou had to say about the project and the traditions reflected in his music, visit metroactive.com.

Phoenix: Youssou N'Dour's "Near-Divine Voice" on New Album

In this week's Phoenix (Boston), Banning Eyre reviews Youssou N'Dour's latest CD, Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take), and finds further confirmation that "the emotional nexus of N'Dour's best work [is] in his near-divine voice." Eyre spoke with Youssou about being a "middle man" between hometown pop fans and listeners abroad hoping for high-art roots music. Rather than hinder his music-making, this give-and-take has only enhanced it. For Eyre, the music of Rokku Mi Rokka is "just one more reflection of how the demands of N’Dour’s far-flung audiences have sharpened his powers."

Youssou's US tour brings him to the Boston area on Monday, December 10, at the Somerville Theatre.

Read Banning Eyre's article in full at thephoenix.com.

David Byrne and Youssou N'Dour, WNYC Soundcheck Picks of the Week

New York Public Radio station WNYC's Soundcheck staff have released their Picks of the Week. The show's executive producer, Gisele Regatao, points to Youssou N'Dour's Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take), and host John Schaefer names David Byrne's The Knee Plays among the "stand-out new albums" worth checking out now.

NY Times: "National Heroes" Caetano Veloso, Youssou N'Dour in NYC

On New York Times music critic Jon Pareles's list of events to look out for this week are concerts by Caetano Veloso and Youssou N'Dour, two "musicians who qualify as full-fledged national heroes." While they come from different continents, both "accepted the same mission: to make contemporary pop that sounds both local and global, and highly individual." And each will perform at New York's Nokia Theatre: Caetano, "omnivorous, tuneful, [and] quintessentially Brazilian," performs tonight and tomorrow night; Youssou, whose voice—"clear, vulnerable, and urgent—represents Senegal and West Africa to much of the outside world," brings his Great African Ball to the Nokia on Wednesday and Thursday.

Youssou N'Dour's "Exhilarating" Travels

When Youssou N'Dour performed in upstate New York in 1994, he did so before a crowd of more than 150,000 at Woodstock ’94. This Sunday night, he’ll return to the region to play before a slightly more intimate, though likely no less enthusiastic crowd, at the Kingston, NY, Ulster Performing Arts Center. But as the town’s Daily Freeman reports, at least a few reminders of the spirit and sound of the original event at Yasgur's Farm in 1969 remain.

In an interview with the paper's Blaise Schweitzer, Youssou recognizes the similarities Schweitzer points to between the sound of Senegalese mbalax that made him famous and that of the legendary Jimi Hendrix: "I think it's really smoking. It's something really tough and electrical."

As renowned as Youssou has become around the world for his music, he often puts his powerful voice to use on behalf of important social and political issues as well. For Youssou, music and activism are often inextricably linked, leading him to seek out other, similarly motivated artists, like Peter Gabriel and Bruce Springsteen.

"I was really impressed about the energy of Bruce, and the simplicity, also," Youssou tells Schweitzer. The two toured together in 1988 on behalf of Amnesty International, a powerful experience for Youssou. Writes Schweitzer: "Springsteen's humanity, and willingness to talk about current events, resonated with N'Dour. He can't see separating his own interests in human rights from his stage presence." More recently for Amnesty, the Senegalese singer contributed his own interpretation of John Lennon’s "Jealous Guy" to the Instant Karma compilation supporting efforts to save Darfur.

Though some have called for Youssou to move towards even greater political involvement—suggesting he seek the Senegalese presidency—he remains committed to the powerful vehicle that is his music.

Music and politics come together in a different way on the next stop of Youssou’s US tour, in the nation’s capital, where he’ll perform at the Kennedy Center, Monday, November 19. In today’s Washington Post, writer Mark Jenkins recognizes Youssou as “the greatest contemporary singer from Senegal and possibly all of Africa.” And while he “travels the world with and in his music ... N'Dour's most interesting ventures mesh Senegalese styles not with Anglo-American pop, but with other African music,” as he does in the new album, Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take). In his review of the record, Jenkins says “the album's sound is intricate, indigenous and characteristically exhilarating.”

Talk of those indigenous sounds surfaces in an interview Youssou gave to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s A.D. Amorosi. (Philadelphia is the next stop on the tour, at the Kimmel Center, Tuesday, November 20.)

"From my start, there were sounds close to me that I didn't touch because of their proximity," Youssou tells Amorosi of his career’s earliest days. But, as he did with his previous album, Egypt, with Rokku Mi Rokka, he turns his gaze inward, this time at the music of northern Senegal and the give and take that has gone on for centuries between Africa and the West: "When the slaves left Africa, they left us this music,” he says. “They left us blues. It is the root of everything you [America] and Jamaica and Cuba has." He also hopes that part of the cultural exchange will be a recognition of the positive aspects of his religion, which are so often overlooked: "I really want to bring the message of love that is Islam to people; bring something new to that familiar face."

For more from Youssou on Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take), visit the album’s mini-site at nonesuch.com/youssou.

For tour information, click here.

Caetano Veloso and Youssou N'Dour to Perform at SF Jazz

Last month, the San Francisco Jazz Festival was the site of the world premiere of Glenn Kotche's Anomaly, which the composer performed together with Kronos Quartet. This month, two more Nonesuch artists join the festival's 25th anniversary celebration, when Caetano Veloso performs at the Nob Hill Masonic Center this Saturday, November 17, and Youssou N'Dour hits the stage for the festival's closing night, Friday, November 30.

Later this year, for a series of special winter concerts, SF Jazz presents two groups with ties to Nonesuch as well. On January 25, 2008, Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, the Bulgarian women's choir that released a Grammy-winning series of records on Nonesuch through the mid-'90s, and, the next night, Toumani Diabaté's pan-African Symmetric Orchestra, which released the triumphant Boulevard de l'Indépendence last year.

For more information on these events, visit SFJazz.org.

Philadelphia Magazine Offers Youssou N'Dour Ticket Contest

Philadelphia magazine is giving away tickets to see Youssou N'Dour in concert next Tuesday, November 20, for his debut appearance at the city's Kimmel Center. For information on scoring these "primo seats," visit phillymag.com. To learn more about the Kimmel Center concert or to buy tickets, visit kimmelcenter.org.

For information on the rest