Free Oumou Sangare Concert in Chicago - July 2

If you can make it to Chicago this Thursday (July 2, 2009), be sure to check out the free concert by Oumou Sangare, one of the biggest names to come out of Mali's music scene. The concert is part of a Music Without Borders project, and you can find more information about the concert and the artist at World Music Central.

I've played a few of Sangare's songs on my show in the past. Her style blends traditional West African sounds with a contemporary social message. If I didn't already have a prior commitment tomorrow night, I'd love to see her live!

On another note, I'd like to recommend World Music Central as an excellent resource for anyone looking for more information about world music. Their site features regular updates about upcoming concerts and artists around the world. My one criticism would be that they don't always clarify the location of some of their concert announcements (it's at ___ Hall. If you don't recognize it, you probably don't live near it anyway, right?) but the news about new artists and albums is always interesting. I don't want to copy their content too extensively but I might post a link once in a while for information relevant to the genres I play and/or events near Illinois (my local broadcast zone).

World Music Central