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WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Colin Powell has named James Brown, the so-called "Godfather of Soul," to a new and unusual, but apparently fictitious, senior diplomatic position, the State Department said.

Spokesman Richard Boucher confirmed Monday that Powell had indeed appointed Brown to be the first US "secretary of soul and foreign minister of funk" but said the job description for the post had not yet been drawn up.

In addition, he told reporters that it was uncertain whether the new title carried with it any salary or if Brown would be entitled to an office at the State Department.

"I don't know that it has all been decided," Boucher said. "If we do assign any office space or write out the position description, you'll be the first to get it."

Powell made Brown's appointment public on Saturday while hosting a dinner for winners of the annual Kennedy Center Honors -- awarded to US artists and performers for outstanding work -- of which Brown was one this year.

"James, you know, I really could use you," Powell told Brown, according to a transcript of his remarks at the dinner released by the State Department on Monday.

"I could use you on those diplomatic conferences that I have to go to, sitting there all day long (in) meetings that went on forever and ever," he said to laughter from the guests.

"Man, you could have livened up things at the end of a long day, when we're all dying to reach an agreement on something!" Powell said, before announcing: "Godfather, I hereby appoint you secretary of soul and foreign minister of funk."