A NICARAGUAN musician has said it will be an "honour" to represent his country's partnership with the city at the Oxford Folk Weekend.

Guitarist and singer Jairo Hernández Cáceres was invited to the festival by Oxford City Council as part of the city's twinning with his hometown of Leon.

The 37-year-old music teacher, who has been in Oxford for the past week, is excited to perform in the festival today and says being booked was a dream come true.

He said: "Being part of the folk festival is a great opportunity and is a dream for me.

"I work as a music teacher at a community group and I teach my children all about music and have encouraged them to start their own music groups.

"We are making a big effort to teach our generation about Nicaraguan traditions, such as music, food, legends and myths and about social commitments.

"It's our job to educate new generations about our culture so we've been trying to re-educate people to get them to look into our own identity."

Since November, children from Oxford and Nicaragua have been learning each other's music via Skype in a project called Song de Raiz with Mr Cáceres going into schools this week to teach Oxford pupils his country's traditional music.

He has already entertained pupils at Church Cowley Saint James Church of England Primary School and said it was heart-warming to hear their performance.

He said: "It's amazing to be in Oxford and very touching to have visited local schools and hear them singing songs we would sing in my country.

"Something else I really appreciate in Oxford is the music in the pubs because there is a lot of good music in this city."

Oxford City Council's international links coordinator Lauren Spiceley, said it was great to have Mr Cáceres in Oxford.

She said: "Leon is the place we're twinned with that's furthest away so it's great to have the opportunity to work with him as part of the project.

"I would encourage anyone who would like to get involved in any of our twinning projects to get in touch with us and even suggest some ideas for new projects."

If you would like to get involved with future projects contact: internationallinks@oxford.gov.uk.

To see Mr Cáceres perform visit: folkweekendoxford.co.uk for tickets.