A NEW wave of acts have been revealed for this year’s Womad Festival, which will be making its 35th outing with a typically diverse line-up.

As well as musicians from all corners of the globe Womad will play host to its usual vibrant mix of art, dance, food, wellbeing, discussion and family activities, all taking place at the idyllic Charlton Park, near Malmesbury, between July 27-30.

Heading up this wave of acts are the legendary reggae outfit Toots and the Maytals, who have penned some of the genre’s most notable hits including Funky Kingston, Do The Reggay, Monkey Man and Pressure Drop… Their sets are always very well received and it will be no different in Malmesbury.

Meanwhile, Roy Ayers, Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the death of Fela Kuti, the godfather of Afrobeat, the heady, funk-heavy sound of Nigeria in the 1970s.

With her explosive mix of hip hop, cumbia, dancehall and reggae, the Cuban singer, flautist and percussionist Yaite Ramos Rodriguez, aka LA Dame Blanche will make her Womad debut delivering her powerful, compelling and extraordinary sound fusion.

NICK MULVEY offers a rather more reserved musical experience, but it’s one that no less nourishing. In a world where singer-songwriters are ten a-penny, his delicate, confessional songs standing out from the crowd, creations as neatly constructed as those of his previous band Portico Quartet.

Joining them in the latest announcement are the likes of Amsterdam Klezmer Band, a seven-piece delivering a spiralling, effervescent klezmer sound, Italian producer Clap! Clap! whose Afrocentric creations have picked up the ears of Gilles Peterson and many more.

Artists featured in previous announcements include Ladysmith Black Mambazo, prolific British poet Benjamin Zephaniah, side project of Squarepusher, Shobaleader One, Sudanese refugee Alsarah & the Nubatones and many more.

This year the festival is setting out to prove that music is capable of bringing people together from all around the globe at a time when ‘division and isolation are increasingly prominent’.

WOMAD takes place at Charlton Park, near Malmesbury, between July 27 and Sunday 30.

Tickets and full details can be found at womad.co.uk.