NPR's music programs and reviewers are turning in their lists for the Best of 2007, and a number of Nonesuch artists are among the top choices from public radio. Wilco's Sky Blue Sky tops World Cafe's list of the best albums of the year. All Things Considered's Banning Eyre has three Nonesuch albums among his Top Ten of 2007: Caetano Veloso's Cê, Sérgio and Odair Assad's Jardim Abandonado, and Youssou N'Dour's Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take). On the list for "Top Ten Jazz Jewels of 2007" from WDUQ is Metheny/Mehldau Quartet. And Wilco's "Hate It Here," from Sky Blue Sky, is among the best songs of the year, per KUT.

Youssou N'Dour performed the closing show of his current US tour before a sold-out crowd at the Somerville Theatre, outside Boston. According to the Herald, "the singer with the astounding pipes" led the audience through "two sweaty, dance-inducing hours" of songs throughout his career, including his latest album, Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take). And by the end of the show, writes the Herald's Bob Young, "N’Dour left no doubt that he—and Africa—still rule the world of scintillating powerhouse grooves." In last night's tour closer, "N’Dour showed why he’s one of pop music’s most commanding performers."

As Youssou N'Dour prepares for the last stop on his US tour, tonight at the Somerville Theatre, the Boston Globe's Siddhartha Mitter reflects on the impact the "wildly talented" singer/songwriter has had as a key figure in contributing to and re-defining the genre of world music. "[H]is own work, exemplified by his newest album, Rokku Mi Rokka, and its 2005 predecessor, Egypt, is as fresh and searching as it has been in years." The Globe's Tristram Lozaw's review of the new album calls it "a defining album that showcases N'Dour at his organic best."

Among the many roles Youssou N'Dour has come to play, he has come to be known "as one of the planet's true superstars and a beacon of African pride," says the Chicago Tribune. At Wednesday's Chicago House of Blues show, N'Dour's singing was "as strong and rich as it's ever been," and his band, Super Étoile de Dakar proved itself "the rare band entirely deserving of the 'super,' perfectly composed to push ahead but constantly poised for stop-on-a-dime shifts."

World Music/CRASHarts presents Youssou N'Dour and the Super Étoile band this Monday, December 10, at the Somerville Theatre. Today's Boston Globe previews the next phase of the organization's winter and spring schedule, which includes a broad range of artists from around the world, from Toumani Diabaté's pan-African Symmetric Orchestra, also at the Somerville, on February 2, to Laurie Anderson, who will bring her new piece, Homeland, to the Boston Opera House on March 29.

As he wrote in his recent preview of Youssou N'Dour's performance with the Super Étoile band at LA's Royce Hall, the Los Angeles Times's Don Heckman was clearly looking forward to Saturday's show there. According to Heckman's concert review in today's Times, Youssou did not disappoint, and the crowd responded in kind, dancing in the aisles—"animated Terpsichores, arms and legs moving wildly in all direction"—despite the hall's restrictions against it. "The sheer vitality of N'Dour's music almost demands physical movement," he writes. And the give-and-take continued, with Youssou responding to the crowd's energy "by dialing up the already dynamic intensity of the music."

After kicking off the California leg his of US tour last night in Santa Cruz, Youssou N'Dour will make two more stops in northern California before heading down to Los Angeles this Saturday. Gearing up for the concert at UCLA's Royce Hall, the Los Angeles Times praises Youssou's "inimitable vocals, with their seductive timbral span" and argues that "a pretty convincing case could be made for N'Dour as one of the world's most visible and successful international artists."

Youssou N'Dour resumes his North American tour tonight at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz, California. On Friday, he makes his way to San Francisco for the season finale of 25th Annual SF Jazz Festival. "N'Dour shows that he has lost neither charm nor youthful energy," says SF Weekly of his new album, Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take). "The rhythmically rich music works like a frame around his high-pitched voice, and the music is able to captivate even the most jaded listener, world music fan or otherwise."

Youssou N'Dour recently took a break from his North American tour to meet at the White House with aides of First Lady Laura Bush and discuss their respective efforts to fight malaria. He also sat down with Agence France-Presse, saying, "If the United States wants to win a war, it ought to be the war on malaria." Right after the White House meeting, Youssou made his way to Philadelphia for his Kimmel Center debut. In that set, Youssou showed "why he is considered one of the world's greatest singers," according the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The CMJ chart numbers have been released, and Youssou N'Dour's Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take) moves up ten slots—the week's biggest mover—to hit No. 1 on the New World chart. Youssou performs tonight and tomorrow night at NYC's Nokia Theatre as part of the Great African Ball. 

"Confident and charismatic, he's a dynamic performer regardless of the style of music he's playing, a smart, stirring songwriter and a remarkable vocalist," says the Wall Street Journal's review of Youssou N'Dour's show in Miami on Friday. "N'Dour's voice is stunning, elastic and powerful." The Washington Post's review of Monday's show at the Kennedy Center, titled "Star of Dakar—and the World," exclaims that N'Dour "demonstrated that his reputation as one of the world's greatest singers is not hyperbole.

In this week's Boston Phoenix, Banning Eyre reviews Youssou N'Dour's latest CD, Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take), and finds further confirmation that "the emotional nexus of N'Dour's best work [is] in his near-divine voice." The album is "just one more reflection of how the demands of N’Dour’s far-flung audiences have sharpened his powers." N'Dour's US tour heads to the Boston area on Monday, December 10.