Chaia / Yiddish Electronic

Several years ago, DJ SoCalled began including samples and beats in his concerts and recordings. But, Chaia, has now taken this to another level, mixing dance beats with Yiddish and English oral histories, historic Yiddish recordings, and the like. Dancing to this is like inserting oneself, on the dance floor, into a Yiddish-speaking past. It's the dance equivalent of standing on a crowded corner on the Lower East Side 100 years ago, but with the space and beats to move in the 21st century.

I first saw Chaia perform as a member of the original Levyosn Yiddish folk ensemble, helping rethink modern Yiddish harmonies. Encountering her on the dance floor at a khanike dance party a year or two later was something entirely different.

Sometimes, as on the opening track of this recording, "Borough Park," the oral history language is English, melding with the beats and other songs. Other times, as with "A Naye Geshikhte" or "Tsu Vemen," first one is teased with an original Yiddish song or swirling bit of almost discernable audio, perhaps from an oral history, surrounded by swirls of sound before the beats become audible, keeping the dancers moving as their ears are also taking in the original music. Sometimes, it is the beat that starts off, as in her deconstruction of "Daloy Politstzey" with echoes of the anti-authoritarian song/melody, as well as a spoken political statement.

The music ranges from often familiar popular Yiddish song to cantorial music—there is even a bit of Hankus Netsky talking about his impressions of synagogue music becoming "Israelicized" and losing Ashkenazic pronunciations, "yiTgadal v'yiTkadash"? in "Ir Narishe Tsienistn." Some of the questions Chaia is asking with her selections are quite pointed. Nor does she eschew her own interpretations, as in "A Naye Geshikhte (Sephirot Remix)" for adding new dimensions and mixing in some wonderful clarinet.

Chai's remixes and beats, like those of Ilya Shneyveys & Sara Myerson in Electric Rose, provide a new way of experiencing Yiddishland. It's like being right in the middle of an imagined Yiddishland, past, future, and right now in the present. It's exciting, and it's fun to dance to.

Reviewed by Ari Davidow, 13-Aug-2026.

Songs

1. Borough Park 4:23
2. Oyfn Oyvn 3:05
3. A Naye Geshikhte 5:04
4. Daloy Politsey 3:51
5. Sheltn Shelt Ikh Dem Tog 4:47
6. Tsu Vemen 2:32
7. Ir Narishe Tsienistn 6:44
8. Di Zun Vet Aruntergeyn 4:11
9. chaia, Sephirot—A Naye Geshikhte (Sephirot Remix) 5:07

All compositions by Chaia. All rights reserved.

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