Amadou & Mariam are the subject of a feature profile in this week's Village Voice, as the focal point of the paper's picks for this summer's musical highlights. In Voice writer Stacey Anderson's look at the couple's career and their latest Nonesuch release, Welcome to Mali, she is quick to dismisses the normally narrow notion of "world music" but says the Malian duo's eclectic style is well suited to a truer, broader understanding of the phrase.

"[I]f anyone truly makes world music, it's Amadou & Mariam," writes Anderson. "Through their constant curiosity and a romantic ear, the married couple invokes more than the sounds of their West African roots; they seem to be the epicenter of many cultures."
   
Such has been true for Amadou & Mariam throughout their career, throughout which "their bright pop has been porous and receptive to globe-spanning influences," says Anderson. On their latest album, Welcome to Mali, she continues, "their hybridization is their most dramatic yet." Citing as an example of this the album's opening track, "Sabali," Anderson describes it as "a vortex of French vocoder electronica, Mariam's blithe falsetto, and unflappable Britpop, courtesy of producer Damon Albarn (of Blur, Gorillaz, and Africa Express)."

Anderson asserts that, after decades of performing together and the success of albums like "2005's masterful Dimanche à Bamako (produced by Parisian worldbeat rocker Manu Chao), Amadou & Mariam are poised for a new plateau of crossover success," including in the US. This is especially true given the critical praise the new album has received and with their upcoming summer tour of the US, both in opening sets for Coldplay and as headliners. She concludes: "It seems time; they welcomed us to Mali, and now it's our turn to welcome them here."

Read the complete article and the Voice's other picks for the summer's best at villagevoice.com. For more information on Amadou & Mariam's upcoming US tour, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.