Aborigines and didgeridoos are coming together with Welsh singers and guitars in the most bonkers music collaboration Greenwich has ever seen.

BT River of Music will see international artists from across the world join forces with UK acts and perform together at iconic venues along the Thames to celebrate the Olympics.

With one site to host each continent, the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, will transform into the Oceania Stage and provide a stunning backdrop for eye-opening shows from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

Free tickets to the extraordinary British Council event on July 21 and July 22 will be available from June 9 and a £3 booking fee applies.

Welsh folk/trip-hop group 9Bach were selected by Australian Aboriginal group The Black Arm Band Company – made up of 14 musicians - to create original production Mother Tongue together.

Vibe caught up with 9Bach’s guitarist Martin Hoyland this week.

He said: “Each stage has to have a collaboration with a British band and that’s where we come in.

“The Black Arm Band Company wanted to work with a Welsh-language band, mainly because there are so many issues with aboriginal languages – they have about 300, all getting killed off, so they are trying to preserve them.

“My wife Lisa, who is the singer in our band, grew up in a village where everyone speaks Welsh.

“She didn’t learn English until she was nine.

“We sing completely in Welsh, that’s the link between us.”

Martin, originally from Camden, is the only 9Bach member not from Wales but he has been picking up the language since he moved there seven years ago.

He added: “They were sent CDs of a few different Welsh language bands and I think they picked us because of our musical skill and my wife’s amazing voice.

“The whole idea is that we collaborate on new songs together so we got sent out to Australia to work with them – it was so fantastic.”

Martin and 9Bach singer Lisa Brown were taken to Papunya, a remote aboriginal community, to learn about the culture and see The Black Arm Band Company perform.

Martin added: “The aborigines have had an awful time, they’ve been treated terribly.

“They want to tell the world their stories.

“It was almost too much to take in – we’d come back from rehearsals and be dumbstruck.

“While we were out there we’d written a song with them so we performed it with four of them doing backing vocals in Welsh, which was amazing for Lisa.

“We’ve got six songs which will be in the show in Greenwich and Lisa will be doing a few in an aboriginal language.

“It was absolutely amazing to create music with them.”

Two of the Australian performers also visited Martin and Lisa at home in Wales to get a feel for the culture, and see that Welsh truly is a “living language.”

With a didgeridoo player, pianos, drums, violins, guitars and talented singers performing Mother Tongue, it promises to be a very exciting show.

Martin said: “It’s bonkers, it’s amazing.

“I never thought we’d be doing anything like this.

“For me, as a Londoner, it’s exciting coming to Greenwich.

“We’ll be able to show Londoners other things that are going on in the rest of the world.

“It’s not just a music show - it’s a story of language, a moving experience and definitely something different.”

Also appearing on the Oceania Stage will be Australian group The Barons of Tang and Green Fire Islands which integrates Maori and Irish music to name a couple.

For tickets, the full line up and other stages along the Thames visit btriverofmusic.com