58 years of an arts festival expressed through 58 things we want to hear now.
The playlist begins with Dijon’s “Automatic” and ends, several worlds later, with Phoenix Chorale’s “Northern Lights.” Between them is a fairly improbable collection: Melt-Banana, the late Dolly Parton, Clipse, Mdou Moctar, Janet Jackson, Ichiko Aoba, Doechii, Sonic Youth, Sudan Archives, 五条人, Patti Smith, Nia Archives, Rosalía, Shabazz Palaces, Robyn, Dr. Octagon.
Beauty isn’t exactly the organizing principle, nor genre, period, or geography.
What holds it together is curiosity.
Appropriate for an arts festival. One of the pleasures of a festival is proximity: unlike beside another. Paintings near performance; painstakingly traditional alongside an object made Tuesday; the familiar shares space with the inscrutable. Connections occur as we move along.
Music is particularly good at this.
Difference is what makes our encounters interesting.
There are ghosts in a playlist like this. Sonic Youth’s “Teen Age Riot” and Patti Smith’s “People Have the Power” are decades old, Dolly and Tim have moved on. Other songs are just barely released.
That feels connected to what it means for an arts festival to reach 58.
Longevity can be an argument for looking backward. But celebrating imagination and gathering for 58 years is interesting only if those years create enough space for the new, the unexpected and occasionally the difficult.
Automatic.
More Pressure.
A New Error.
Where It All Began.
Joy.
Come Meh Way.
Pilgrimage.
Illusion of Time.
Running.
People Have the Power.
A succession of encounters: harmonious and dissonant, some immediately accessible, others reveal themselves upon reflection.
Fifty-eight years of people making things and other people coming to see.
So: 58 songs for 58 years.
Mostly, we hope you hear something you didn’t already know.
Built for outside consumption as you stroll!
Sept 30, 2026
B Reed
Vice President
An Occasion for the Arts
An Official 2026 Playlist for An Occasion for the Arts (58 songs)
Tracklist
- Automatic — Dijon
- Zero — Melt-Banana
- Soy Yo — Bomba Estéreo
- Thinking Like a Mountain (feat. John Grant & Stephen O’Malley) [Portrait Version] — Yann Tiersen
- More Pressure (feat. Kevin Abstract) — Kae Tempest
- Salish Sunset — Timothy Crane
- Purified by the Fire — Yves Tumor
- Choir — Perfume Genius
- Ereh Ma I — Rian Treanor & Cara Tolmie
- Baghanny — Maryam Saleh & Hello Psychaleppo
- Zouave’s Blue — Xinlisupreme
- The Last Thing On My Mind — Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton
- E.B.I.T.D.A. — Clipse, Pharrell Williams, Pusha T & Malice
- A New Error — Moderat
- Oh France (Injustice Version) — Mdou Moctar
- Baianá — Nia Archives
- Pumpkin — Been Stellar
- Hiding Ghosts — Damien Jurado
- Fanfare / Don’t Dream It (2015 Remastered) — Tim Curry & The Rocky Horror Picture Show
- Because It’s in the Music — Robyn
- HOT HOT — Bree Runway
- Where It All Began — Varijashree Venugopal
- American Teenager — Ethel Cain
- Joy — Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
- oh yeah? — Steve Lacy
- Kokomo, IN — Japanese Breakfast
- September Song — Agnes Obel
- Escapade — Janet Jackson
- Come Meh Way — Sudan Archives
- Storyline Fever — Purple Mountains
- Sing to Me — Jhené Aiko
- Persuasive — Doechii
- Pilgrimage — Ichiko Aoba
- Illusion of Time — Daniel Avery & Alessandro Cortini
- In a Persian Market — Wilbur de Paris
- Home Maker — Sudan Archives
- 烂尾楼 — 五条人
- Ay That’s Me — Deerhoof
- The Meaning of Flowers — Agnes Obel
- Nomoah — Indigo De Souza
- Walking On Air — Tkay Maidza
- Wasureppoi Tenshi — Kaho Nakamura
- Show Me How — Men I Trust
- Cashmere — Tkay Maidza
- Teen Age Riot — Sonic Youth
- UFOF — Big Thief
- La Rumba Del Perdón — ROSALÍA, Estrella Morente & Sílvia Pérez Cruz
- Running — Helado Negro
- Crush — DUCKWRTH
- People Have the Power — Patti Smith
- Earth People — Dr. Octagon
- Forerunner Foray — Shabazz Palaces
- Avant Gardener — Courtney Barnett
- Sandhills — Leikeli47
- Paranoid parade — Kinoko Teikoku
- The Other Black Dog — Genesis Owusu
- Find Out (feat. Riddlore) — Aceyalone
- Northern Lights — Phoenix Chorale & Charles Bruffy
