Beats, blues and vocal wizadry complete Greenbelt 08's musical line-up

The musical line up for Greenbelt 08 has just been completed with the addition of rising stars Beth Rowley, Daby Touré and Shlomo.

This year Greenbelt, the all-age festival of arts and contemporary culture with its roots in the Christian faith that keeps thousands of people keep coming back year after year, features a great range of music across five stages and talks from leading Christian thinkers.

With sales of her debut album Little Dreamer now approaching 100,000, Beth Rowley makes a triumphant return to Greenbelt. Fusing her vintage sound and sensibility with a joyous, contemporary edge, Beth has become essential listening. With her exquisite vocal style and a gift for discovering the heart of a song, she breathes new life into the blues.

A diminutive 26-year old singer-songwriter, she defies expectation with her towering, sophisticated, gospel-tinged vocals. Little Dreamer, co-written by Beth and saxophonist Ben Castle (Duke Special), was released earlier this year and has been in the Top 10 Album Charts since. Now Greenbelt welcomes Beth back but this time to play the stage she has always warranted: the Mainstage!

Greenbelt 08 also sees the welcome return of Daby Touré, the Paris-based, Mauritanian-born virtual one-man band. "If the idea of an African Nick Drake or Cat Stevens appeals, then Daby is your man," according to the Times, but Daby shuns any obligation to be more 'African' than his heart and soul tell him to be, collaborating with electronic musician and digital wizard Cyrille Dufay.

His first album for Peter Gabriel's Real World label, 'Diam' earned him a nomination for Best Newcomer at the BBC Awards for World Music back in 2006. And Stereo Spirit, his second is release, is out now.

Back to wow Greenbelt (after first visit in 2005) Daby invites us to join him in pursuit of the Holy Grail of new Afro-centric pop which he achieves through his freewheeling approach to creativity like this, "I get up in the morning, I pick up my guitar and I start working. I don't know where I'm going to go."

Shlomo is blazing a trail as one of the world's leading beatboxers, working for years to push the boundaries of beatboxing as an art form, using nothing but his mouth to make music that you cannot begin to imagine!

His ability to create all manner of drum sounds, vocal scratches and complex rhythmic beatbox techniques have seen him perform all over the planet and work with a whole host of international artists including among them Mr Scruff and Damon Albarn.

Expect a raw mix of vocal wizardry, tabla beats and freestyle rap from the man who Bjork describes as the new bright hope of the hip hop scene.

In a year that has seen many festivals fold due to bad weather and dwindling ticket sales Greenbelt is holding firm.

"Ticket sales have exceeded last year and we are encouraged by the thousands of people returning as well as new faces coming to find out what we have on offer. As ever our line-up is eclectic, diverse and exciting and I can't wait for it all to happen," says Beki Bateson, Festival Director.