In response to the current situation in Mali, Fatoumata Diawara has gathered together over 40 of Mali’s most renowned musicians in a studio in Bamako to record a song and video calling for peace titled "Mali-ko" (Peace / La Paix). Known collectively as Voices United for Mali, the group includes Amadou & Mariam, Oumou Sangare, Toumani Diabate, Afel Bocoum, Bassekou Kouyate, Vieux Farka Toure, and others. Watch the video and read the lyrics and their translation here.

Lianne La Havas, who is currently on tour in Australia, is set to return to North America for an 18-city tour starting March 17 in Dallas. Even before then, La Havas will make a brief trip to LA to perform at the Grammy Foundation's Play It Forward concert and to be fêted by Essence magazine at its Black Women in Music event. When she was in LA last September, she performed songs from her new album, Is Your Love Big Enough?, at Amoeba Music. Watch the complete set here.

Nataly Dawn has premiered her video for "I Just Wanted You to Get Old," the closing track from her forthcoming Nonesuch Records debut album, How I Knew Her, out on February 12, 2013. Watch it here. Dawn, who launches her tour with Ben Folds Five in Denver on Wednesday, January 23, was recently in London, where she performed live on BBC London's Jo Good show, and the title track to the album won the BBC 6 Music “Rebel Playlist” listener poll, earning a spot on every BBC 6 Music daytime show this week. Dawn is also featured on Drunken Werewolf and on the latest episode of the Monocle Radio Culture Show.

Fatoumata Diawara performed a set at the 10th annual Globalfest at NYC's Webster Hall on Sunday. The event is the subject of this week's episode of NPR's All Songs Considered, focused on the festival's "highlights and favorite discoveries," Diawara among them. "Undoubtedly one of the breakout stars of this year's edition of globalFEST, the Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara had the crowd wrapped around her finger," reports NPR. "Gifted with enormous stage presence and great looks, Diawara put on a tightly choreographed set that screamed with energy and edged towards rock and funk." The New York Times includes her among "this year’s superb African contingent at Globalfest." Watch an excerpt of her performance here via NPR.

Dr. John released his Nonesuch Records debut album, Locked Down, in April 2012 to great critical acclaim and, more recently, numerous year-end-best accolades and a Grammy nomination for Best Blues Album. Locked Down was produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and features a band of young musicians Auerbach hand-picked to make the album. Dr. John and the band celebrated the album's release last spring with shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). The video of their BAM performance of the track "Ice Age" premiered on Rolling Stone last week. Watch it here.

Fatoumata Diawara's debut album, Fatou, was released earlier this year to critical acclaim. Now comes the release of a new music video for the album track "Clandestin," which addresses issues of immigration. "They are called 'illegals,' but I call them warriors as it’s not easy to leave everything behind and to trust in the unknown. In Bambara, we call them nomads," says Diawara. "This song is dedicated to all the brothers who die on this trip and to those who have already left!" Watch the video here.

Mandy Patinkin continued the holiday sing-along at The Colbert Report when he joined Stephen Colbert and REM's Michael Stipe to sing the traditional carol "Good King Wenceslas" on Comedy Central last night. Watch the performance here. The trio performance closed out an episode of the show in which Patinkin and Colbert engaged in a spirited discussion of his role as Saul Berenson on the hit Showtime series Homeland and much more. It also follows the previous night's duet between Colbert and Audra McDonald on "Baby It's Cold Outside."

Audra McDonald helped ring in the holiday season by joining Stephen Colbert to sing “Baby It’s Cold Outside” on The Colbert Report last night. Watch the performance here. As the recently named official host of the PBS series Live From Lincoln Center, McDonald will host seven broadcasts through spring 2013, starting with “The Richard Tucker Opera Gala” this Thursday, December 13, and including the New York Philharmonic’s New Year’s Eve Gala, “One Singular Sensation: Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch,” on Monday, December 31, in which she will also perform.

Nataly Dawn has premiered her video for the song “Please Don’t Scream.” Watch it here. The track is from her forthcoming full-length Nonesuch Records debut album, How I Knew Her, out on February 12, 2013. Exclusive How I Knew Her pre-order bundles include the album on vinyl or CD, an instant download of the song “Please Don’t Scream,” access to an exclusive online show, and an autographed print. Also available is the iTunes-exclusive Please Don’t Scream EP featuring the title track, “Leslie,” and “Araceli.”

Punch Brothers made their debut on the Conan show last night, performing "Movement and Location," off their latest album, Who's Feeling Young Now?. Watch the performance here. The band is currently out West for their US fall tour, performing at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara tonight, followed by shows in Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Aspen, Boulder, Kansas City, Minneapolis, and Chicago. Punch Brothers close out the year with a three-night run at New York's Bowery Ballroom December 29–31.

The Metropolitan Opera’s performance of John Adams’ Nixon in China, with the composer conducting, is now available on Blu-ray and DVD together in one package from Nonesuch Records. The Met’s production, staged by Adams’ longtime collaborator Peter Sellars, stars James Maddalena as Richard Nixon. Nixon in China was recorded and broadcast live in movie theaters around the world as a part of The Met: Live in HD on February 12, 2011—10 days after the opera received its Met premiere.The San Jose Mercury News features the Blu-ray/DVD in its holiday Gift Guide, calling Adams' score "multigeared and multicolored, transforming like a kaleidoscopic engine."

Lianne La Havas brings her brief US tour to a close this weekend with sold-out shows at the Roxy in LA and Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco. La Havas stops by KCRW in LA today for an appearance on Morning Becomes Eclectic, which calls her "a stunning newcomer with a soulful voice and incredible depth and range." The Los Angeles Times says her debut album, Is Your Love Big Enough?, is "brimming with understated production, poetic lyrics and La Havas’ guitar-driven blend of soul, folk and jazz." Watch her performance on Conan from earlier this week here.