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, saying, "If the United States wants to win a war, it ought to be the war on malaria." 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 the Philadelphia Inquirer.

This week, the New England Conservatory in Boston presents a two-day, four-concert mini-festival celebrating the music of Steve Reich. The composer will be directly involved in the events, leading rehearsals on Tuesday and working directly with Conservatory students in workshops on Wednesday. Kicking off the public events that night is a performance of Piano Phase. Closing the festival on Thursday night at Jordan Hall are two Boston premieres: City Life and Daniel Variations. The debut recording of the latter piece is due out on Nonesuch in early 2008.

"How do you solve a problem like a bloody, R-rated musical about a serial killer, starring movie actors who aren't professional singers?" So asks the Los Angeles Times. The answer: put Tim Burton in charge. "The result is a beautifully scored, high-art slasher film, told almost entirely in song and topped off with Depp paying homage to Lon Chaney and Boris Karloff."

As we reported last week, k.d. lang recently appeared on the UK talk show Parkinson to perform the new song "I Dream of Spring," off her upcoming Nonesuch release, Watershed,
due out in February. You can now watch the performance here.

David Byrne appeared on BBC Radio 2's The Weekender to discuss the recent reissue of The Knee Plays and play a couple of tracks off the CD. Guest host Jack Docherty let David know how happy he was to have the album on CD, not least because he could finally stop borrowing his dad's car to hear the original version on the car's cassette player. The Houston Press says "the world is richer" for the release of The Knee Plays. The album documents "Byrne at the height of his creative powers, in a constant struggle to define what is interesting, beautiful and ugly about the world."

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 albums from Orchestra Baobab, Astor Piazzolla, Radio Tarifa, Oumou Sangare, SFJAZZ Collective, Taraf de Haïdouks, Rokia Traoré, and Wilco.

"We were raised in a country where the borders between different types and styles of music are not very clear." So says Rio-born guitarist Sérgio Assad, in an interview with the Adelaide Advertiser. In their upcoming concerts with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, as part of the Adelaide International Guitar Festival, Sérgio and Odair Assad present Piazzolla's genre-bending piece Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, along with Rodrigo's Concierto Madrigal.

During her visit to the BBC Radio 2 studios in London last Friday, k.d. lang stopped to spend some time with "Pudsey," the mascot for the charity Children in Need. The organization works to improve the lives of disadvantaged children in the UK. 

Given the number of ardent fans Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd has developed over the years, it's understandable that some questions might follow the buzz about the upcoming Tim Burton–directed film version starring Johnny Depp. Like, "Can Johnny sing?" Now you can see, and hear, for yourself, in this video of Johnny in the recording studio, discussing his early concerns and proving them wrong with a performance of "Epiphany."

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 NYC's Nokia Theatre as part of the Great African Ball. 

Singer k.d. lang stopped by the set of the popular British TV talk show Parkinson last Saturday to perform the new song "I Dream of Spring," off her upcoming Nonesuch release, Watershed, due out in February. The show's host, Michael Parkinson, a mainstay in the UK for more than 35 years, will be retiring at the end of the year. As the series winds down, he's asked his favorite guests to come back on for the last few shows, and k.d. is among them.

In the midst of a tour across the US, Caetano Veloso stopped for two nights in NYC, where he performed songs from throughout his career, focusing on his latest album, Cê, for packed crowds at the Nokia Theatre. "Lyrically, much of Cê is unabashedly carnal," says the New York Times. "Yet Mr. Veloso’s voice carries an abiding tenderness, and he sounded nearly as alluring on bitter new tunes (like 'Rocks,' a natural closer) as on vintage fare ('Sampa,' a natural singalong)."