NOTCHING up those air miles, they’ll be jetting in from China, Armenia, Mali, New Zealand, Ethiopia, South Korea, the States, Bolivia, Mauretania and Argentina among other far-flung destinations.

But Mmm-voola will be have less of a trek – all the way from Brum, no less.

Laura Mvula – pronounced as above – is a Birmingham-based singer who has created a unique musical collision of Nina Simone and The Beach Boys, as one critic put it. Another claimed her soulful vocals and florid soundscapes had helped invent a new musical genre – “gospeldelia”.

The much-admired Mvula is among the latest raft of acts added to the bill of the globe’s most prestigious world music festival at Charlton Park near Malmesbury from July 23-26.

Also making a WOMAD (World of Music Arts and Dance) debut is Tiken Jah Fakoly originally from the Ivory Coast but now based in Mali.

The Jah is a giveaway. He’s a reggae singer who – along with fellow countryman Alpha Blondy – has been lauded as arguably Africa’s biggest star of the genre.

“It’s a privilege to finally bring him to Charlton Park,” said Festival Director Chris Smith.

Meanwhile Mahmiud Ahmed and Badume’s Band will be re-creating on-stage his classic 60s and 70s recordings from Ethiopian music’s golden age.

“Mahmoud remains a gripping artist with a voice that still soothes and soars in equal measure,” said Mr Smith.

Algerian singer-songwriter Souad Massi will return to WOMAD with her “prickingly beautiful musical creations,” while the Mercury Prize-shortlisted ‘anti-rapper’ Ghostpoet – “one of the sharpest chroniclers of our times” – will perform in a Wiltshire field for the first time.

Also just added to the bill are electro-swing merchants The Correspondents, a verbally dextrous duo described as “brilliant and ridiculous in gloriously equal measures”.

Fans of BBC Three’s new young offenders’ comedy Crims will recognise their song Fear and Delight as its theme tune.

And how’s this for a spot of world music fun… Count Drachma is a spin-off from UK indie folk band who specialise in Zulu maskanda grooves from South Africa.

Also something completely different… Tibet’s Tashi Lhunpo Monks will bring their sacred music and chanting to Lord Suffolk’s spacious backyard while Jambinai, from South Korea, will dish out wiry and experimental post-rock with its echoes of Korea folk tradition.

Sweet Seoul music, you could say.

Among 20 or so artists previously announced for WOMAD include hip hop veterans De La Soul, desert blues pioneers Tinariwen and clattering folk sensations Bellowhead.