World Village Records announced that Ibrahim Ag Alhabi will join Tinariwen this month and in March for the group’s concerts in the United States and Canada. Ibrahim Ag Alhabi is the most recognizable member of Tuareg band Tinariwen and was unable to join his fellow bandmates on their most recent North American tours. The 2010 North American Tour starts February 15 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Tinariwen's most recent recording is Imidiwan. Staying true to their desert rock/blues sound, Imidiwan pulses with lithe, intertwined guitar lines, earthy vocals and rolling rhythms of the group's Tuareg roots. The members of Tinariwen took up the reins of the recording of Imidiwan by convincing producer Jean-Paul Romann to travel with them to the Malian village of Tessalit to record in a rented house and out in the bush. The resulting sound is alternatively fiery and poignant.

Tour Dates:

Mamer, one of China's most innovative and influential young artists, is to return to the UK together with his band for an 8-date tour, starting on 18 March 2010. Hailing from Qitai County in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Mamer (pronounced "Ma-moor") grew up, like every Kazakh child: on horsebacks and in the strong musical tradition of the Kazakhs his father and relatives taught him to sing folk songs and play the dombra, a lute popular in Central Asia.

'Eagle', Mamer's debut solo album, was released on Real World Records in 2009. The album features songs of the grasslands that are deeply rooted in traditional Kazakh music, while incorporating influences from Western folk and rock. Mamer's deep voice is combined with dazzlingly fast plucking and strumming on guitar, dombra and other traditional instruments.

Alborosie is shaking up California this February with his Escape From Babylon to the Kingdom of Zion tour. This tour will give a chance to catch this rising reggae star in person. Alborosie has made his mark in the reggae world with hits that include "Rastafari Anthem", "Kingston Town", and "Call Up Jah." He will be visiting numerous venues and cities including: The Arcata Theater & Lounge - February 13 in Arcata, California; The Rocket Room - February 17 in San Francisco, California; The Shattuck Down Low - February 18 in Berkeley, California.
 
 On Escape From Babylon to the Kingdom of Zion, Alborosie pays respect to his heroes from Reggae's golden age (Black Uhuru, Burning Spear, Steel Pulse and Bob Marley) and infusing this timeless music with a touch of modern roots and dancehall. The lead single "Stepping Out" features David Hinds from the famed reggae band Steel Pulse.

Cuba's renowned dance band Los Van Van is scheduled to perform 70 concerts in the United States. The extensive tour is planned in three stages for the coming year and could extend until 2011, said band leader Juan Formell during a press conference on Friday in Havana after presenting a documentary on the history of the group.
 
 One or two of the concerts might also be held in Miami where a large number of Cuban emigrates reside, including extreme right wing elements who attempted to sabotage the group's concerts and physically attacked its members. “Miami has changed in the last ten years”, said Formell, who stressed that the situation in that southern Florida city is much more favorable than years ago.
 

Malian sensation Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba wil be touring North America to promote the release of their second album. Since 2005, Bassekou has led Ngoni Ba, the first-ever group built around not one but four ngonis-all played by members of his family. The group's second CD I Speak Fula comes out on Sub Pop in February of 2010 (preceded by a digital release via iTunes in December '09) on the occasion of Bassekou's first North American tour as a headliner. Bela Fleck will join the group on stage for a number of shows.

Bassekou's longtime friend and booster Lucy Duran (a BBC radio host, record producer, and Mande music scholar) produced the band's debut, Segu Blue. Before long, Bassekou and Ngoni Ba were touring Europe and in high demand. I Speak Fula builds on the success of Segu Blue . Its 11 tracks provide a star-studded tour of pan-Malian music, including collaborations with Toumani Diabaté, griot vocal legend Kasse Mady Diabaté, master of the horse-hair soku fiddle Zoumana Tereta, and guitar phenomenon Vieux Farka Toure, Ali's precociously talented son.

The Tuvan throat singers Alash will perform “Jingle Bells” and other holiday favorites with Béla Fleck & the Flecktones, to promote the Flecktones' Grammy-winning CD Jingle All the Way. The buzzy sounds of throat singing provide a surprise element in several songs, including the traditional Tuvan song “Dyngyldai” ingeniously interwoven with the English Christmas carol “What Child Is This?”
 
 Alash recorded with the Flecktones while touring the United States in 2007, and last December they joined the Flecktones in several American cities to publicize the album's release. The Flecktones are long-time fans of Tuvan throat singing. Two of their earlier albums, Outbound and Live at the Quick, feature the celebrated xöömeizhi (throat singer) Kongar-ool Ondar, the original mentor and artistic director of Alash.

The acclaimed Indian singer Kailash Kher is back in North America with his band Kailasa to share their trademark blend of mystical Sufi soul and Indian folk roots blended with contemporary pop, rock, reggae and funk grooves. Kailash Kher & Kailasa will be touring November 8-13.

Read a review of Kailash Kher's latest recording: A Passage From India.

Tour schedule:

Rupa & The April Fishes will be touring North America and Europe in the next weeks. Rupa & The April Fishes are specialists in crossing borders and building bridges musically, and that is exactly what they do on their newly released  album Este Mundo. The messages on Este Mundo come from the real life experiences and travels of the band and lead singer Rupa, who is a practicing physician by day in a San Francisco hospital.

The record addresses many issues including life, love, art, death and the real and artificial divisions that keep us apart. By mixing musical elements of Gypsy swing, Colombian cumbia, French chanson and Indian ragas the band achieves a sound that effortlessly blurs the boundaries of genre and geography. According to lead singer Rupa, “este mundo is a collection of sounds and songs highlighting life's accidental beauty and surging joy as well as their inexorable partner: human suffering.”