Sunfest is always pretty regal and hot -- the 2011 edition just makes that official.

The free world-beat fest starts Thursday at Victoria Park with a Vancouver band that brings zero degrees of separation from this summer's royal tour.

Delhi 2 Dublin's last gig before opening TD Sunfest 2011 was finding a thrill up on Parliament Hill on Canada Day. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were introduced to the band.

Delhi 2 Dublin knew what to do. One member -- tabla and electronica master Tarun "T" Nayar -- was designated as the sole hand-shaker allowed by protocol. The rest were happy to be there. Yes, Kate made an impression.

"Ravi (Dinning, dhol and tabla player) made it a point to give her the little eyebrow raise 'cause we're not going to lie, Kate's kind of hot," says Delhi 2 Dublin's lead singer Sanjay Seran. "We were hoping her sister (Pippa Middleton) would be there too -- and she wasn't."

The band has two shows on separate Sunfest stages Thursday. It kicks off four days of world music from Canada and elsewhere with Juno winners, reggae stars, brass ensembles, jazz vocalists and more.

Like Delhi 2 Dublin's blend of South Asian sounds, Celtic fiddle flavours and clubland electronica, much of what will heat up the five stages is beyond category.

That doesn't mean it's not guaranteed to move you and get you moving. The band's out-this-spring Planet: Electrified is the re-imagination of the band's last album, Planet: Electric, and it showcases the remix work of many of the band's favourite producers.

"Some of our stuff has a pop side too or a pop edge to it and I think that's OK," Seran says.

"We want our music to be played on the radio -- not to say we're selling out, but to say we're taking the sound to the massive population. We really feel there's nothing wrong with that."

No argument here. Sunfest brings some familiar faces -- like 2009 stars Delhi 2 Dublin -- to its Suntronica showcase and many new ones.

"I think it's going to be even more popular this year," Sunfest artistic director Alfredo Caxaj says of the return of the Suntronica showcase. It's billed as the place where "technology meets tradition."

Also on the Suntronica bill are such new-to-London acts as the nu-jazz Saskia Laroo Band, led by a trumpet player from the Netherlands, called "the Lady Miles (Davis) of Europe."

Laroo's band mixes jazz, hip-hop, electronica and more. It's part of the "tech meets trad" component along with such acts as Brooklyn-based Chicha Libre and the Afro-Colombian hip-hoppers Systema Solar.

A fixture is Toronto's reggae master Lazo will play his 16th Sunfest in a row. Lazo has been dubbed "the Jackie Washington of Sunfest" in tribute to the late Canadian folk and roots icon who played so many Home County Folk Festivals.

In keeping with Sunfest's tradition of bringing in stars from Quebec, there are Montreal's Christine Tassan et les Imposteures, a group of women who love Django guitar, Hot Club jazz and such great French songbook classics from Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf.

The name "Imposteures" mocks the long-standing tradition of gypsy jazz as a male-only domain.

Canadian stars include jazz singers Laila Biali and Kellylee Evans, Quebec folk group De Temps Antan, Juno-winning banjo wizard Jayme Stone and Montreal-based, Haitian-born Wesli.

Arriving from Chicago is a true "band of brothers," the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. The group comprises eight sons of Windy City music legend Philip Cohran, who played with Sun Ra in the 1950s but chose to stay in Chicago when the "Sun God" took his Arkestra to the Eastern U.S. in 1960.

"It's like a continuation of our father's legacy passed down to us," says trumpet player Gabriel "Hudah" Hudert.

"This is part of who I am, this is part of my DNA, this is what I listened to when I was in my mother's womb. Playing with my family, playing with my brothers is part of who I am. It's what I will be doing."

The band's brothers have been recording with their father recently. Other sisters and brothers are professional musicians, their mothers are singers.

The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble plays Sunfest on Friday at 10 p.m. (Galaxie stage), Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (WestJet north stage).

The band's brass sounds of joy and its name play off "Helping Young People Notice" with more HYPNotic details available on its www.hypnoticbrassensemble.com website.

New to Sunfest, the brass band knows the game.

"You can't be mundane. You can't be where you talk in a monotone, you have to colour it up," Hudert says.

Returning features include the WestJet Jazz Stage, Le village quebecois and the Galaxie Rising Stars program. Last year's Galaxie winners, Five Alarm Funk, are back.

Other attractions include more than 275 food, craft, and visual art exhibitors. Sunfest has been voted one of the Top 100 North American Events for 2011 by the American Bus Association and a Top 100 Ontario fest by Festivals & Events Ontario.

Support for Sunfest comes from government, corporate, private and media sources.

On Wednesday, visa issues were still keeping two acts -- Colombia's vocal group NVOZ and Niger's African rockers Etran Finatawa -- from getting into Canada for the fest. Caxaj and other Sunfest officials were working on the problem during the day.

"Once again, I'm extremely excited about the programming we're presenting this year," Caxaj says. There are a record number of groups, most of them new to the fest and London. "It is so nice again to present national artists from coast to coast."

As always, Caxaj is confident about the weather for Sunfest.

"Our big brother, the sun, will be with us," Caxaj says.

IF YOU GO

What: TD Sunfest 2011, the 17th annual outdoor festival of world music, dance, food and crafts in London; presentation of London Committee for Cross Cultural Arts Inc.; free, but donations welcome; 37 performers, including Canadian-based world-beat and jazz acts. International stars include performers from New Zealand, the Netherlands, Cuba, Colombia, U.S., Niger, Puerto Rico and Peru.

Where: Victoria Park and a section of Wellington Street east of the park near City Hall.

Details: Programs are $3; about 275 food and craft vendors; visit sunfest.on.ca or call 519-672-1522. The Kiwanis bandshell and Galaxie (Wellington Street) stage are used for evening concerts all four nights of Sunfest. The Galaxie and two other stages have music on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. A fourth temporary stage, at the north end of Victoria Park, is the festival's main jazz base on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons and early evenings.

When: Thursday to Sunday. Music starts at 6 p.m. on Thursday, noon on Friday, 11:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.