National Geographic Music (National Geographic)

Malian singer Khaira Arby has been the talk of the town here in New York ever since her stunning debut at The Shrine in Harlem last month (check out Afropop Worldwide's account of the amazing evening here) - and in light of her success there, she's added additional dates to her current U.S. tour in support of her international recording debut Timbuktu Tarab (Clermont Music).

For those unfamiliar with the woman they call "The Songbird of The North," Arby hails from a village near the desert city of Timbuktu and draws musical inspiration from her mixed Berber and Songhai heritage - as well as from her famous cousin, the late, great "Desert Blues" innovator Ali Farka Toure.

On Timbuktu Tarab Arby mixes Ali Farka's desert blues with older traditions and a bit of contemporary flash, and achieves magnificent results. Her voice is a force of nature - as big and clear as the desert sky itself - and when she unleashes it on the kind of sedate and meditative desert blues that Toure was known her, there's nothing like it.

See her for yourself, if you can!

Khaira Arby Timbuktu Tarab Tour Schedule:

September 17th: u Lotus Fest, Bloomington, IN
September 18th: Lotus Fest, Bloomington, IN
September 22nd: Global Roots Festival, Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, MN
September 23rd: Global Roots Festival, Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, MN
September 24th: iGlobalquerque!, National Hispanic Cultural Center, Albuquerque, NM
September 25th: Union Theater, 800 Langdon St, Madison, WI
September 26th: World Music Festival Chicago, The Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL
September 27th: World Music Festival Chicago, Logan Square Auditorium, Chicago, IL
September 27th: WNUR Live Radio Broadcast, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
September 29th: Joe's Pub, NYC
October 2nd: TBA, NYC
October 3rd: TBA, NYC
October 6th: Johnny D's, 17 Holland St, Sommerville, MA