Toumani Diabaté’s The Mandé Variations has been nominated for an NAACP Image Award in the recording category of Outstanding World Music Album. The 40th annual Image Award nominations were announced earlier today in a presentation that included Audra McDonald among the announcers. Audra was nominated for two awards: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role on ABC's Private Practice and Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series, or Dramatic Special for her role in the ABC production of A Raisin in the Sun, which received four additional nominations as well.

President-elect Barack Obama, the subject of many of the works in the Image Awards' literature categories, was recently asked by Borders stores to select five items for his own Shortlist of picks to read, watch, and listen to. Of the five titles, he chose just one CD: Kulanjan, the 1999 collaboration between Diabaté and Taj Mahal, which Obama describes as "a beautiful melding of traditional blues and music from Mali by two great masters." Read his complete list at bordersgroupinc.com.

The NAACP Image Awards ceremony will take place at Los Angeles’s Shrine Auditorium on Thursday, February 12, at 8 PM ET, hosted by Halle Berry and Tyler Perry, and will be broadcast live on FOX. For more information, visit naacpimageawards.net.