Toumani Diabate and his Symmetric Orchestra performed to a packed house at New York City's Bowery Ballroom this past Thursday with label mate Fernando Otero opening the show. You can catch a few minutes of Toumani and the band's electrifying set here:

Another recent performance, a solo showcase by Toumani at the Royal Palace in Seville, Spain, was reviewed in the Financial Times as part of a profile of the Malian kora master. The Times' David Honigmann poetically describes Toumani's performance this way: "Some passages are impossibly fast; others as calm as moonlight reflecting in one of the ponds outside."

The article also revisits some of Toumani's numerous collaborations, including his work on Björk’s latest album, Volta, on which "Diabate's playing weaves confidently through Björk's crowded, stuttering electronic beats," and his Grammy-winning album with Ali Farka Touré, In the Heart of the Moon. One of the songs on Toumani's forthcoming solo album, The Mandé Variations, shares its name with that late, great Malian guitarist. "Ali Farka Touré was unique," Diabate tells Honigmann. "He did a great job all his life."

The Mandé Variations will be available to pre-order in the Nonesuch Store next week, two weeks before the official release date.

Fernando Otero's Nonesuch debut, Página de Buenos Aires, is available now in the Nonesuch Store. He'll play his own show at Joe's Pub this Wednesday.