Some recent music stories from VOA:

The Mega-hit television show, "American Idol", is gaining a new judge in the person of celebrated song-writer, Kara DioGuardi, who will join Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul as the fourth judge in the first installment of the singing competition's eighth season, which begins in January 2009. VOA's Ilir Ikonomi interviews Ms. DioGuardi about her new role in this enormously popular prime-time TV program.

With all the anxieties and even panic in the U.S. at the current financial crisis, one San Francisco banker has found a special place in the hearts of his fellow "Frisco" citizens. Listen to Jan Sluizer's radio report on financier Warren Helman's annual sponsorship of "The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival," which is held each October in the city's famous Golden Gate Park.

The above-mentioned crisis has of course affected people in countries all over the world, including musicians. Yet for Zimbabwe's star Oliver Mtukudzi, his popularity among fans outside his country have enabled him to continue his successful career, as Unathi Kondile tells us in this radio feature from Capetown, South Africa.

For artists involved with jazz, perhaps the highest honor is to be selected as a "Jazz Master" by the National Endowment for the Arts, or NEA. Mona Ghuneim reports from New York City on those individuals who were recognized for 2009.

Brazil is a the largest and most populous country in South America, with an enormously rich range of musical traditions, some of which (for example, Bossa Nova), have achieved wordlwide popularity. Yet despite the major Hispanic population in the U.S., contemporary Brazilian artists--perhaps because the dominant language in Brazil is Portuguese, not Spanish--have continued to struggle to find an audience here. VOA's Steve Mort brings us his radio story from Rio de Janeiro on the challenges facing Brazilian musicians in reaching the market in their northern neighbor, the United States.