Oumou Sangare, the Malian singer/songwriter known as the "Songbird," has released Seya, her first international release in six years. Toronto's Globe and Mail says the album's title, meaning "joy," is certainly reflected in the music, calling it "modern Malian music at its finest: sophisticated, subtle, beautifully produced ... Its cross-rhythms and flowing, hypnotic instrumental lines underpin all she does, and all she does on Seya, whether crooning, chanting, chuckling or singing with majestic power, is excellent."

Amadou & Mariam performed for a frenzied, sold-out crowd last night at New York's Webster Hall. They also stopped by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to perform "Africa" off their new album, Welcome to Mali, on last night's episode, with The Roots' Black Thought. Last Saturday, the couple performed for a sold-out crowd in Boston. Reports the Boston Globe: "[I]f Amadou and Mariam each shone individually, they practically glowed when they performed together." Previewing tomorrow's show outside DC, the Washington City Paper describes the new album as "wonderful" and says it's "Amadou’s rhythms that drive their songs forward, and his joyous-feeling choruses that make the tunes transcendent."

The Low Anthem's Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, is set for release tomorrow. The album's first track, "Charlie Darwin," opens this week's episode of NPR's All Songs Considered. "If you listen to just one song today," insists the show's host, Bob Boilen, "make it this opening track to the new CD by The Low Anthem. It all starts off with a sound that at times feels Gospel and then at the very same time feels agnostic. Those two ideas seem at odds with one another, but then the title of the record's called Oh My God, Charlie Darwin."

David Byrne will perform a very special free concert at Brooklyn, New York's Prospect Bark Bandhsell tonight as part of the Opening Night events of the  Celebrate Brooklyn! concert series. Byrne will offer music from his ongoing Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno tour, featuring material from his collaborations with Eno, including 1981’s groundbreaking My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. "One of the city's coolest summer concert series," says the Village Voice, "opens its 2009 season with a free show by one of the city's coolest art-rock deities, David Byrne."

Amadou & Mariam have made their way to NYC after playing a sold-out set at Boston's Paradise Rock Club on Saturday. While in New York to perform at Webster Hall tonight, the Malian couple will stop by the set of NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where they'll be joined by members of The Roots in performing a song off Welcome to Mali. The show airs tonight starting at 12:35 AM ET. The tour heads next to Philly, and then outside DC. The Washington Post Express calls the new album "the type of record that is so joyous and positive that it feels like it could bring together warring factions ... but it's really more of a sonic Evite to explore the diverse country in Northwest Africa."

Steve Reich is set to join famed German electronic-music pioneers Kraftwerk as the special guest in a sold-out show marking the Opening Night of the 2009 Manchester International Festival on July 2. The concert will feature the world premiere of Reich’s 2x5, led by the composer and performed by Bang on a Can. The Festival has teamed up with Boosey & Hawkes, Steve Reich's publisher, for a unique opportunity to win a pair of tickets to the sold-out event and accommodations through a contest on Twitter @SteveReich.

Youssou N'Dour performances, film at BAM ... Amadou & Mariam make music in Montreal, Boston ... Laurie Anderson comes to Colorado Imagination Fair ... The Black Keys play Pittsburgh, Philly, San Diego festivals ... David Byrne's in Philly too and Vienna, VA ... Bill Frisell is guest of honor at Telluride Festival ... Richard Goode performs Chopin, Bach in Bristol ... Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin open Luminato Festival ... k.d. lang joins Garrison Keillor on Prairie Home Companion ... Low Anthem plays two states in one day ... Kronos gives Australian premieres of Floodplain pieces ... Sara Watkins takes the Mountain Stage with Steve Earle ... and more ...

Amadou & Mariam play the second of two dates in Canada tonight at Montreal's Metropolis, then head to Boston on Saturday and NYC, Philly, and DC next week. The Philadelphia Inquirer describes their sound as "a gutsy brand of African highlife with cool, languid guitar solos and deeply hypnotic rhythms." The Philadelphia Daily News calls it an "unlikely yet alluring mix" of "snaky electric guitar lines, exotic Afro-blues melodies, hip-shaking (and occasionally even hip-hop) polyrhtymic beats and haunting, dipped in melancholy vocals." The Washington Post says it's "some of the world's most irresistibly funky music," as heard on their "marvelous" new album, Welcome to Mali.

k.d. lang will be among the special guests on this week's episode of A Prairie Home Companion, airing a live broadcast performance, recorded tonight from LA's Greek Theatre, on hundreds of public radio stations across the US this weekend. Joining k.d. and the show's host, Garrison Keillor, as special guests are Sheryl Crow and Martin Sheen. The episode will also feature the Royal Academy of Radio Actors; Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and sound effects man Fred Newman; singer Heather Masse; the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band; and The News from Lake Wobegon. 

It is with great regret that Flaco Jiménez has had to pull out of Ry Cooder and Nick Lowe’s forthcoming European tour on doctor's orders. Due to physical limitations and severe pain caused by herniated discs in his lower back, the Grammy-winning accordionist is unable to travel or perform for the foreseeable future. He is currently undergoing treatment in San Antonio, Texas. The 19-date tour begins on June 11 in Dublin.

Amadou & Mariam, having turned up the heat during their Welcome to Mali tour opener in Chicago on Tuesday, are set to do the same in Toronto tonight and Montreal tomorrow. Toronto's Globe and Mail spoke with Amadou about his life with Mariam and their love of Canada. The National Post describes the duo's live show: "Amadou unleashes sparkling licks on his gold electric guitar, and Mariam wails joyously and busts out infectious seated dance moves. The audience is rapt." Special offer for fans in NYC: enter to win seats surrounding the stage for the couple's Monday night appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Björk’s Voltaic: The Volta Tour, a concert film featuring stops on her visually dazzling Volta tour in Paris and Reykjavik, will be screened across the US this June and July. There are more than 15 screenings already scheduled, all to coincide with the release of the very special DVD/CD/LP recording Voltaic, due out in the US on Nonesuch on June 30. Register to win a pair of tickets from Nonesuch for the June 23 screening at NYC's School of Visual Arts Theater.