2024 in Review // 18 Chai Songs by Solilians

Chai (חי) is the Hebrew word for life. The word, consisting of two Hebrew letters —chet (ח) and yud (י)— is a Jewish symbol, frequently appearing on pendants and other jewelry.

Unlike the Indian tea chai, which is pronounced with the “ch” sound of “chocolate,” the Hebrew chai is pronounced with the same “kh” sound as in challah. Both words rhyme with “high,” however.

Chai also refers to the number 18. That’s because each Hebrew letter has a numerical equivalent, and the sum of chet (numerical value of 8) and yud (numerical value of 10) is 18. As a result of its connection to the word for life, the number 18 is considered a special number in Jewish tradition. For this reason, Jews frequently make gifts or charitable contributions in multiples of $18.

In Hebrew, chai is often referred to in the plural form, chaim (חים), hence the boy’s name Chaim aend the toast l’chaim (לחים), which, as anyone who has seen Fiddler on the Roof knows, means “to life.”

These days any life-affirmative material is vital to our collective survival, be it photos/footage of pets, comfort food or music. And so we’re immensely proud to bring you comfort food of a playlist courtesy of Solilians!

We still have few physical copies of Klezmische Deluxe – Bring Them Home Now left in our vaults, so you know what to do! Once you’re done with this playlist, we highly recommend exploring the rest of Solilians catalog – Shin LP, in particular, is a huge fav here at IHN.

Elysian Fields – Half Measures (from What The Thunder Said) (Ojet)

Wet Tuna – Wand Arise (Version) (from In the Running 3 – Wet Tuna/DUNZA)

Jim White and Marisa Anderson – Bitterroot Valley Suite I: Water (from Swallowtail) (Thrill Jockey)

The Earthly Frames – Cicatrise (from Infranyms)

Bardo Pond – War is Over part 2 (from Volume 9) (Fire Records)

The Smile – Teleharmonic (from Wall Of Eyes) (XL Recordings)

MRC Riddims – Good Morning (from Never Held a Joystick EP)

Seawind of Battery – New Moon (from East Coast Cosmic Dreamscaper) (WarHen)

Leah Dunn from – Shir HaMa’alot (from Havurah Music Common Blue Compilation (VA))

Electric Djinn – SUN (Death of Codes remix) (from SUN DLXe)

Alicia Sviglas – Fidl Afire Fantasy (from Fidyl Afire)

Mahogany – Scaffold (from “A Scaffold” Single)