Oumou Sangare begins a two-week tour of North America tonight, performing songs from her latest World Circuit / Nonesuch release, Seya. The first stop on the tour is Chicago's Millennium Park, where she'll give a free outdoor concert at the Jay Pritzker Pavillion, part of the city's Music Without Borders concert series.

Sangare heads next to the Caramoor Festival in upstate New York tomorrow to meet up with banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck and his Africa Project for the first of several performances together.

"Of all Mr. Fleck’s endeavors, his Africa project may be the most ambitious," says New York Times writer Phillip Lutz. "Among the most fruitful of his interactions has been one with the Malian diva Oumou Sangare, the 'songbird of Wassoulou.'"

Fleck says that his interest in Sangare's work goes back almost ten years, when he first heard one of her earlier albums. "She was the person who made me want to go to Africa the most," he tells Lutz. “I fell in love with the sound of her voice.”

For her part, Sangare, looking forward to what this collaboration will bring on stage, tells the Times: "The magic is there ... The groove will come." Read more at nytimes.com.

Both Sangare and label mate and fellow Malian star Toumani Diabate are featured in the documentary film Throw Down Your Heart, which follows Fleck's musical journey through Africa. Diabate, who toured with Fleck in the spring, joins him on tour again on August 3, when the two will perform at New York's Central Park SummerStage, followed by a screening of the film.

In fact, Fleck will take that stage just about a month before, as well, as he and Sangare offer a free SummerStage performance this Sunday afternoon, July 5. Village Voice music critic Richard Gehr calls Sangare "one of the great voices in African music ... Her music is surging and propulsive, a shimmying pitter-patter of guitar, violin, percussion, and vocal chorus." Time Out New York calls her "Africa's answer to Aretha Franklin—silky smooth one moment, and capable of soaring power the next. Her current album, Seya, translates as 'joy,' a perfect summation of her music." Also performing are the French-Chad group Les Nubians and Nigerian singer Asa. For more information, visit summerstage.org.

For more information on Oumou Sangare's North American tour, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour. For more on her latest album, visit nonesuch.com/albums/seya.