In July, Brian Q. Silver, long-time chief of VOA’s Urdu Service, took on a new and broader role, becoming VOA’s Ethnomusicologist and World Music Curator. This reflects the important role that both traditional and contemporary world music has come to play in our programming for our international radio, television and Internet. Brian will facilitate world music programming throughout the agency, and organize and maintain a library of national musics that can be used by VOA and its sister entities. In addition to his work at VOA, Dr. Silver has continued to perform internationally on the sitar, most recently in a series of concerts in the People’s Republic of China.

Be sure to visit our African Music Treasures blog for musical rarities and background from our extensive African music collection.