Sydney Festival 19 has a Spotify playlist and this week The Guide spent many pleasurable hours listening to a wide variety of music from some of the fantastic artists who will perform at the festival.

Some of our favourites:

Julia Holter: ‘Words I Heard’.  With an eerie voice and an otherworldly feel, this surprisingly meditative song still has brass and power in the music.

Orquesta Akokán: ‘Mambo Rapido’. It’s impossible to stay still when the big band breaks out with those trumpets.  A real pick-me-up of a song.

Nakhane: ‘Interloper’.  There’s a dance feel underneath the haunting themes here but this is one to sit and immerse.

Elena Kats-Chernin: ‘Lullaby for Nick’. The piano is front and centre in this lilting, lyrical offering which calms and smooths out the cares of the day.

Spinifex Gum: ‘Malungungu’. With an unbeatable beat and superb voices raises to the sky, this song speaks directly to Australians who love their country.

And the song on most repeat?

Les Filles de Illighadad. ‘Eghass Malan’  Addictive harmonies and complex musical references with a pulsing Afro rhythm that is head bopping heaven.

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Sydney Festival 19 Teaser Video