VOA’s Matthew Lavoie doesn’t have a lot of free time. Besides being a broadcaster for French to Africa, Lavoie also hosts Music Time in Africa, one of the longest-running programs on VOA, having premiered in 1965. And that is not all he does.

An early enthusiast of the blog as a communications tool, on November 30, 2007, Lavoie launched “African Music Treasures,” the first-ever blog at VOA, and the blog does indeed offer treasures. In December he posted VOA recordings of the great Nigerian bandleader Rex Lawson, one of the legends of West African music.

These are unreleased recordings that Leo Sarkisian, one of the legends of VOA, made in the studios of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation in Lagos in 1965. To complement the music, Lavoie included a brief interview with Lawson. So far the post has generated about 6,400 hits.

Lovers of African music are not the only ones who appreciate Lavoie’s online efforts. The website pitchfork.com is considered the Rolling Stone magazine of the Internet generation, the site of record for new, non-mainstream music. It recently published a feature entitled “Essential African Music,” which recommended record companies, key recordings, and blogs worth following including “African Music Treasures,” which it calls an “incredible blog.”