WOMAD

We've just announce a host of additional performances at Charlton Park, some of the highlights of which are listed below. There's still more to come, and even if you can't join us for the whole festival, day tickets are now available, so you can still get a quick shot of festival into your summer. WOMAD Charlton Park is a richer experience than ever this year, alongside the music, beautiful setting and festival ambience there will be myriad delights to explore . The 'Taste the World' tent where artists show off their cooking prowess and, more often than not, the cooking turns into a impromptu gig, will be a sensory delight. The Drum and Dance Tent also makes a welcome return: think everything from early-bird yoga sessions and salsa lessons to night owl happenings. And for those who fancy a luxurious moment to themselves the WOMAD spa - complete with cocktail bar - is the place to go.

WOMAD promises to be bigger and better for kids and young people than ever before. The World of Kids will have the usual comprehensive programme of workshops, entertainment and activities; the magnificent Children's Parade is always a festival highlight. WOMAD continues its well-established place as the best festival for the whole family: all children aged 13 and under get in for free.

The WOMAD Festival experience is not about the familiar, the tried and tested; its essence is in the discovery and enjoyment of a totally unexpected artist or a style of music which would never otherwise have been encountered. It's a magical, musical melting pot, enriching all who experience it.

Paris-based Algerian chaåbi stylist Kamel El-Harrachi. Down and dirty Spanish soul funk outfit The Sweet Vandals. The all drumming-dancing-singing Creole Choir of Cuba. Gallic-fuelled, Louisiana-inspired Cajun sounds from Sarah Savoy & the Francadians. The phenomenon that is London-based Latin jazz D.J Snowboy.

More exhilarating performances: Kuwaiti-born Arabic jazz-guitarist Kamal Musallam. Musical theatre from 30-strong Zimbabwean troupe Zambezi Express. Trinidadian calypso, pop, reggae and sunshine courtesy of the UK's finest steel band, Reading's very own RASPO. Live jazz and hip-hop dance moves from French company Styl'O'Styl.

Hot on the heels of his wildly successful tour of South America and Mexico, WOMAD co-founder Peter Gabriel performs a one-off show on Saturday night at Charlton Park. Variously a champion of world music, a pioneer of digital distribution methods for music and an active humanitarian, the English musician and songwriter will donate funds raised on the day to Witness.

"I had no immediate plans to play in the UK," says Gabriel. "But when Festival Director Chris Smith heard I was looking for a suitable event for Witness.org" - the multi award-winning human rights organisation that has worked with over 300 groups in 70 countries worldwide - "he generously offered me the Saturday at WOMAD. I'm delighted that my only show in Europe this year will be for a cause so close to my heart."Peter Gabriel

Mongrel are the most talked about indie supergroup in Britain. With a nucleus comprising Babyshambles' Drew McConnell, British-Iraqi rapper Lowkey, the Arctic Monkeys' original bassist Andy Nicholson and the vertiginous, mohawked John McLure of Reverend and the Makers, this unapologetically political outfit play hip-hop flecked rock that is direct and angry, blissed-out and beautiful.

Cimarrón deploy the fast, fiery joropa llanera of the mestizo people from the Orinoco plains of eastern Colombia; cattle herders for whom music accompanies many daily tasks. Having won Grammy nominations and wowed international audiences with their 'turboflamencojazz', the all-star team of instrumentalists and singers - including silver-fingered harpist Carlos Rojas - bring their once-heard, never-forgotten sabor Colombiano to the festival.

Female quartet Rachel Unthank and the Winterset play music that leaves critics searching for superlatives. Epic, intimate, magical music, as tough as it is gentle and as ancient as it is modern. This Mercury Music Prize-nominated group both celebrates and reinvents the English folk genre; music from the heart, the soul and sometimes even the feet. Music, then, to swoon to.

Radiokijada is a group led by two very different musicians-come-conceptualists: the Peru-born, Cuba-trained composer and percussionist Rodolfo Muñez and the Swiss electronica exponent of the Gotan Project, Christoph H. Müller. Together, armed with percussion instruments including the quijada - the lower jaw bone of a donkey - they transform Afro-Peruvian traditions with the tools of modern technology. Oh, and get crowds dancing and dreaming along the way.

As he did at the South Bank Centre in June 2008 British actor Pete Postlethwaite will present his English version of the 'welcome to country' address for The Black Arm Band - the collective of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal artists whose music symbolises resilience and hope, wrapped up in the spirit of reconciliation. In Australia 'welcome to country' is given before indigenous performances by a local elder.

A whole other world of discovery awaits at the BBC Radio 3 Stage over in Charlton Park's stunning arboretum. Here is charismatic Malagasy singer/songwriter Nogabe Randriaharimalala. Award-laden English folk hipster Jim Moray and his shimmering experiments in sound. Belgium/Slovakia's Mec Yek and their passionate Balkan beats. UK legend Dennis Bovell and his expansive, big-bottomed dub.

World music radio guru Charlie Gillett will feature three special recording sessions to be aired on his celebrated radio show 'World on 3', BBC Radio 3's dedicated Friday night world music programme. Confirmed so far are Berlin folk-rockers 17 Hippies and members of indigenous Australian collective The Black Arm Band.

Check the line-up page for full details on all the artists and performances, with daily time-tables and stage by stage views.

Festival director Chris Smith said, 'Whether you are looking for the excitement of the main stage experience or keen to discover something new, WOMAD 2009 has some of the very best and most exciting music from around the world. This is going to be one great festival"