HE is arguably reggae’s greatest living singer, a national hero in Jamaica... and is coming to a field near you! Jimmy Cliff joins another impressively exotic and eclectic global line-up at this year’s WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) in Wiltshire this weekend. Recently lauded by ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr as the Jamaican Dylan, Cliff, now 64, is on the comeback trail with a new album, Re.Birth. The owner of one of the most distinctive and uplifting voices in pop, he is also a songwriter of some distinction with a string of distinguished self-penned songs to his credit; Many Rivers To Cross, You Can Get It If You Really Want and The Harder They Come. The latter, from 1972’s cult gangsta flick of the same name (in which he starred) propelled Cliff and Jamaican music to the wider world... and opened the door for the global success of his friend Bob Marley. Another Cliff classic, Vietnam, remains one of pop’s definitive anti-war songs. The 30th WOMAD at Charlton Park, near Malmesbury, (around 30 minutes from Swindon) stars another artist who helped define his own l From page 1 particular genre. Trumpet player Hugh Masekela has been one of the pioneers of South African jazz-funk music for more than four decades... long before the term world music was coined. Offbeat, bizarre and perhaps a little crazy: The Manganiyar Seduction by Roysten Abel will feature more than 40 musicians in separate pods which will light up when each member plays or sings. All this and Robert Plant’s new band too. The full programme, times and admission prices are available at womad.org. – BARRY LEIGHTON