Malian singer Oumou Sangare, known as the "Songbird of Wassoulou," launches a rare North American tour this weekend, including music from her latest World Circuit / Nonesuch Records release, Seya, and will have performed six shows from Canada to the Northeast of the United States before the month is over. Her tour kicks off with a free set at the Festival International Nuits d'Afrique in Montreal tonight before heading to the States for a show at the Caramoor International Music Festival in Katonah, New York. She remains in the Northeast for the remainder of the tour, making appearances in Boston, Manhattan, Maine, and Brooklyn, where she and her band will give a free concert in Prospect Park as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn! series of free outdoor events. See below for all of the tour dates; for additional details, head to nonesuch.com/on-tour.

In a feature article in the New York Times on the diverse musical offerings at Caramoor this summer, Sangare tells Times writer Phillip Lutz that her "'musical concept is a meeting between tradition and modernity.'” This, Lutz says, is manifest in "a repertoire that has its origins in the 13th century but is firmly rooted in the 21st." Read the complete article at nytimes.com.

Time Out New York chooses Sangare's upcoming Prospect Park show as a Critics' Pick. "Listen to her fifth and latest album, Seya (translation: 'Joy'), and you'll understand why she’s become so big," says the magazine. "Her voice is strong, lithe and cool, and like Amadou & Mariam and Rokia Traore, Sangare combines rootedness with breezy experimentalism and a yen for pop. Plus, she puts on a hell of a live show."

Boston Globe music writer Siddhartha Mitter uses a similar explanation for his own selection of Sangare's Boston show as a Critic's Picks for the summer season. "A visit from this charismatic queen of Malian music and fierce combatant for women’s rights is always an occasion," writes Miller, "not least because, as seen on her most recent album, Seya, she’s at the summit of her art."

Mitter's Globe colleague James Reed concurs, calling her a "soul singer blessed with extraordinary warmth and grit."

To pick up a copy of Seya in North America, or any of the albums in Oumou Sangare's Nonesuch catalog, head to the Nonesuch Store, where orders include high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s of the album at checkout.

OUMOU SANGARE ON TOUR