Ali and Toumani, the second and final collaboration between the late Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré and kora master Toumani Diabaté, was released earlier this year to critical acclaim and has now made its way to the top of the World Music Charts in Europe. The Mail & Guardian calls it "a masterpiece." The New Zealand Herald gives it five stars, calling it "stunning" as does Jambase. Sonic Boomers finds it to be "an achievement of brilliance."

Here Lies Love, David Byrne's song-cycle collaboration with Fatboy Slim on the life of Filipino first lady Imelda Marcos, is due out next week, on Tuesday, April 6. One week later, on Tuesday, April 13, Byrne will appear at the MoMA Design and Book Store at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City to sign copies of the album purchased there.

The Low Anthem concludes the West Coast leg of its tour at Seattle's Crocodile Cafe tonight, before heading inland for shows from Salt Lake City to Chicago before it's back East. The band walked Paste through the recording space for its next record and spoke with the San Francisco Chronicle about it, after playing a number of new tunes for KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic in LA.

Calling Laurie Anderson “the most important multimedia artist of our time,” the Los Angeles Times recently noted the “rare, profound maturity” of her latest songs. Thirty years into her recording career, she has applied her craft to a new studio album, her first in ten years: Homeland, a collection of songs at once personal and political, equally focused on love and American identity. Details of an exclusive Nonesuch Store bundle pre-order are coming soon.

Caetano Veloso’s new album, zii e zie, is out this week on Nonesuch Records, and a six-city US tour begins in New York on April 8. To mark the occasion and celebrate the legendary Brazilian singer/songwriter's 25-year history with the label, the Nonesuch Store is taking 30% off all CDs in the Caetano Veloso catalog this week.

The Black Keys will support their forthcoming Nonesuch release, Brothers, due out May 18, with a summer tour beginning June 2 in Salt Lake City, including a newly added second show at Central Park’s SummerStage. Pre-sale tickets for the tour go on sale tomorrow, Tuesday, March 30, through the band's site and include include a copy of Brothers upon release and an instant download of two tracks.

The release of Natalie Merchant’s Leave Your Sleep is just over two weeks away. The Sunday Times (UK) calls it "the biggest, most musically ambitious" project of her career. Merchant will start release day, April 13, with a performance on Good Morning America. The following week, on April 21, she'll play The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In between those appearances and in the weeks that follow, Merchant will give several intimate performances, including newly added dates in New York, Los Angeles, Boulder, Boston, and DC.

Composer Peter Lieberson wrote Neruda Songs, a 2005 Grammy-winning piece based on Pablo Neruda’s poems, for his wife, the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson before the mezzo-soprano’s untimely passing. The Washington Post called it “one of the most extraordinarily affecting artistic gifts ever created by one lover to another.” His second cycle based on Neruda premiered in Boston this week.

The new Broadway cast recording of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's A Little Night Music is due out next Tuesday, April 6. That same day, Sondheim and the cast, including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Angela Lansbury, and Alexander Hanson, will sign copies of the album at the Walter Kerr Theatre, from 2 to 3:30 PM.

Mark your calendars: The Black Keys are slated to perform on the Late Show with David Letterman on Tuesday, May 25, one week after the release of their forthcoming Nonesuch album, Brothers. You can get an early listen to the album's lone Danger Mouse-produced track, "Tighten Up," on the band's MySpace page, which has just been given a timely face-lift to match the vibe of the album art.

The Low Anthem's West Coast tour will begin one day later than planned, at LA's Bootleg Theatre tomorrow. Now comes word that The Low Anthem will return to the Newport Folk Festival for the third year in a row, playing the main stage on July 31. Label mates Punch Brothers perform the next day. Discounted tickets are available through Friday. Chris Thile performs at the Savannah Music Festival tonight and will join up with Punch Brothers in Portland, Maine, this weekend.

The Low Anthem's headlining tour of the US is in full swing again following a five-concert run at SXSW in Austin last week. The band performs along the West Coast, starting at Largo in LA. Today is release day for the special limited-edition vinyl 7-inch single of "Charlie Darwin," featuring the Oh My God, Charlie Darwin track plus new and unreleased material. The LAist says the album "spans the gamut of everything you'd want in Americana inspired music." The San Jose Mercury News calls it "hauntingly beautiful."