AfroCubism, the band behind the long-awaited 2010 recording of the same name between Cuban and Malian musicians originally meant to take place when the Buena Vista Social Club was made in 1996, has come to North America for a rare and all too brief four-city tour starting tonight at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. The tour continues in the coming days with a concert at the Oregon Zoo Amphitheatre in Portland, a free show at the Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco, and a set at the Quebec City Summer Festival.

The Seattle Times, previewing tonight's tour-opening concert, calls the band's music "vivid, exciting, piquant stuff." The Financial Times gave four stars to the band's recent performance before "a jubilant audience" at Royal Albert Hall in London. For tour details, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.

The band—featuring Eliades Ochoa, Bassekou Kouyate, Djelimady Tounkara, Groupo Patria, Toumani Diabaté, Kasse Mady Diabaté, and Lasana Diabaté—made its North American debut last fall for what the Boston Globe called "the most important world-music tour of the season." The AfroCubism album was released at that time to great critical acclaim, with The New Yorker calling it a "collaboration well worth the wait." The New York Times described it as "a rich yet subtle fusion of African and Cuban sounds," and the Guardian called it "an elegant, gently exquisite album." It landed on several year-end best lists, including WNYC, Spinner, and the Boston Globe, and won the Songlines World Music Award for Cross-Cultural Collaboration.

To pick up a copy of AfroCubism, head to the Nonesuch Store, where orders include high-quality-320 kbps of the complete album plus the exclusive bonus track "Keme Bourama" at checkout.