ESE’s New EP, Spirit Guitar
I’m ESE Julia Otobo. I believe music is medicine, and for me, it’s also a pathway to building a sanctuary for myself, and for others who are seeking space to heal, to listen, to breathe.
My solo project SPIRIT GUITAR, started in May of 2023. Picture a nude lonely figure, hunched painfully over an acoustic electric, nude and sweating profuously from the humid West African heat , sitting in her mother’s living room trying to hold and switch between the C & F chords with shaking sweaty painful fingers and dust filled nostrils. In a concrete unplasterd half painted house sandwiched on the grid in a dusty neighborhood on the outskirts of main Lagos and as far as possible away from any music industry action as we know it. I had long since accepted that I was going to do music independently and be successful at it if even if it takes my entire lifetime to achieve that. I made peace with myself that I am here for the long ride not the wild ride (been there done that).
My next move as an Indie music artist is no longer seeking to collaborate, no longer seeking out open mics, yearning to perform live or creating music outside of my self. I have tried my talent and skills enough, given as much as I could for what it was worth and learnt enough to realize it’s is time to dig my own roots in music by myself, build own table and invite others to join the feast.
I am hoping to raise $10,000 to recoup the cost of recording my next 5-song record, an EP called Spirit Guitar.
That amount goes toward covering the cost of the studio, the mixing and mastering process, paying my band, marketing the EP and pressing my first ever CD — a real physical product that will give people my self proclaimed Medicine Music in 3D. What’s left over will go toward touring so we can play these incredible songs in places we couldn’t otherwise afford to go.
Every day that I wake up and play guitar, write a song, or sing freely, I feel immeasurable gratitude because I know there’s a parallel universe where I never took this chance.
I was 29 when I got my first guitar in 2023. I had been living back at my family home for about 3years after moving back home from overseas. Slowly and painfully building my vision for my brand and business and taking whatever steps I could take while using music as a grounding tool to continuously heal mentally and emotionally and courageously face whatever adversities life as an unsupported Nigerian female youth brought.
MY JOURNEY THROUGH MUSIC
6years ago (2019), a few weeks to my 25th and fresh off the plane, I was already moving again like I didn’t just get back from running my life’s survival marathon for 5years of my early adulthood across Southern Africa, America, Europe & finally Asia.
I had a burning desire to express all the rage and hurt I felt at the world that never protected me through music. I didn’t know how I was going to do it as it had never been done before in my family lineage. Even though I am from a family of Artists, music was something we enjoyed, not created. Expressing my emotions through music was a healing technique my yoga studies & practice helped me remember after nearly 5years of forgetting who I truly was. I had zero clue where to start but I knew I had to do it.
I spent my first few years of my music journey (2019 – 2023) writing songs to beats I would get from random underground producers I connected with online, I could not afford fancy studios and big music producers who could propel me at once into the limelight even with all of the encouraging feedback on my work. Albeit, creating music brought some sense of relief to my aching heart. I was finally doing music, being open to collaborations helped me learn a lot about the creative process and working with others but I still have a lot to learn about expressing my personal truth and finding my own unique sound on my journey
Little did I know that kind souls everywhere would also become guiding lights along my journey of remembrance. Such as it was when I received some support from a Italian dear friend and community member and I bought my first guitar (babe) in May of 2023
Finally things we’re looking up! Following Guitar from dummies handbook I self-taught my first chords. In those moments, I was a lonely melancholic figure sitting, day after day, week after week, in my mother’s dusty living room, willing, begging, praying, for the hosts of music heaven to accept my token offering of dedication and allow me into the realm of beauty & music when finally a channel broke through. My utmost desire on this music journey is to be nought but a vessel through which healing & peace flows into the life of everyone who listens. I felt the chords of the strings cut through my fingers, my heart and my mouth bled deep & soulful. 2years later and SPIRIT GUITAR was birthed.
How I Got Here: A Brief History Of Survival
As a kid, I was singing constantly. At home my dad played everything from classical to reggae to ABBA & Boney M. I remember going to sleep with the entire house lights out except for the blue led lights from the living room CD player droning me to sleep with deep rich baritone of Don Williams or Bob Fits and most weekends waking up to music from from Don Moen, Women of Faith, Bollywood Sounds, Ronkanelly, Hillsongs and Dolly Parton. He was a music lover and I became a young music fan. The first CD I ever bought with my own money was a single disk of Beyonce’s Single lady. Later on my Dad would nearly try to get my siblings and I to take on playing the keyboard but we were not interested in the trekking lies and hungry late afternoons that would come with that commitment, and I’m not sure my family of 7 could afford the extra expense to begin with with. With the number of children in our household multiply every 3-4 years, we could barely afford to eat 3 square meals on a single income salary household.
I always knew I could sing. My sisters and I would learn the all the words to Disney movie princess songs, sing and entertain each other at night, sometimes to sleep. Like in the movies I would mostly sing when I was feeling sad and downcast. When I truly knew I had the gift of voice was in Primary 6 during music class and the teacher called on every student to come out to audition to sing in front of the entire class for our graduation ceremony. I sang and he looked at me with wide eyes and made me the lead singer front and center of the student choir
I joined the local church choir as a teenager and would walk several miles weekly to rehearsals. When I graduated highschool I left my parents church choir and began my own life’s journey.
Music was never something I thought I would pursue professionally. My Dad was a struggling painter and traumatized us with the Artists are poor line as early as I could remember, he never truly encouraged any of my artistic abilities so I never felt my voice was special or needed to be heard. So I chose to be a Doctor but ended up studying Computer Science for a year at University instead but still had to drop out due to lack of fiscal support. The Universe had other plans for me and I willingly roped myself into the world of professional modelling for a chance to travel and see the world. Thus began my journey around the globe after winning a local modeling competition at the age of 19. I spent the last of my teenhood and early adulthood (5years) toiling and labouring on the international fashion scenes, flug very quickly into the world of rent, bills, taxes, drugs and sex as a wide eyes hungry ambitious teenager with zero understanding on how the world worked. Coming from my background I had a lot of prove and the only way was up no matter what it would cost me, I was pushed further away from my voice, the joy of music, everything I knew and called home
At 22, I had singlehandedly made my made my way to the Big Apple and the pinnacle of my career I thought was to walk the Victoria secret runway. I truly believed once I got there all the other doors would fling open for me.
Having ambition is one thing, but I was not equipped for a lot of the resistance and exploitation I would face as a lonely single african young woman at the hands of high-end patriarchy. Looking back now I could see how I was an easy prey for the predators I entrusted my confidence and youth to. A young woman, ‘an alien’ as the Americans immigration likes to call foreigners, with no family or structural support, the world wanted a piece of me and I was willing to give.
At 24, I found myself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually dieing. I was struggling with high functioning depression, addicted to weed, nearly going homeless, sleeping in strangers houses and dating trash men. When I walked I felt a strange pain that I never felt before in my right heel that led all the way to my lower back. It hurt to walk and it hurt to climb the stairs. I ignored and hid that pain awayfor a long time, like I did all the other pain I experienced in my life until people close to me started to notice and tell me that my spine was skewed, I could no longer hide my pain and that’s when I knew death or something worse was lurking at my door if I didn’t fix up. Many times I had suicidal thoughts while riding the subway or smoking weed on my balcony on my 19th floor shared apartment building on 1990Lexington and Park Avenue.
I didn’t know it then but that was the beginning of the dark night of my soul that led me to start asking deeper questions about my identity and to seek my personal truths in places I had never traveled before. To revisit my replaying childhood traumas through stillness and breath and re-discover my innate personal power and strength to self-heal my body, my mind my soul and change the entire course of my life, to choose a different timeline. A few months later I travelled to India to study Yoga to learn how to heal my developing scoliosis, but I discovered so much more and I found my voice again.
If you’re still reading, how incredible, and thank you for being so invested in this story. I thought I wouldn’t have enough to say here, but I have 31 years of rejecting the cards life has dealt for me and choosing my own path. I truly believe part of my purpose isto light the path for others and teach them how to do they same if they do choose to, so now is the time to share my voice with the world.
About Spirit Guitar, The EP
While I was studying Yoga school and training to be a Yoga Instructor, the Yoga philosophy teacher made a statement that stuck with me forever.
’Creativity is next to godliness’
That was it! Along with all of profound release I was experiencing through the asanas, meditation, cleansing and chanting, that was the code that cracked the chokehold off my voice. Right after that class I went back to my room and tried to write a new song. I probably had not written a song in 10years or more. It was a divinely spiritual and healing turning point of my life.
I have always loved God and always maintained a special relationship with the one from who’s breath I borrow. It was my relationship and confidence in God that gave me the courage to jump into the unknown 6years ago and it is the same grace that still drives me to believe in the impossible becoming a reality everyday.
Granted I may have started that relationship through the lens of Christianity but I have long since chosen to walk my own solo path with God and understand what our relationship is outside of all of the rules and conditioning of religion.
Spirit Guitar EP is an extension of that relationship. Creating music is a highly spiritual process for me and those months sitting on bed, pulling babes strings and praying for inspiration and direction to my own unique sound was a deep purification process as I allowed God’s Holy Spirit to channel through me as a vessel to deliver whatever gift she has for the world.
Dring this time I had actually allowed myself permission back into the dating scene and was intentional about it for the first time ever. Having the best intentions and choosing the correct life partner with the right values that match yours are two different things entirely.
Spirit Guitar held me during those turbulence times. Activating my throat chakra to express the way I was feeling alongside babe was very much like having an out of body experience and watching music save me over and over again.
All the songs were written by the end of 2023.
Ok But What Does It Sound Like??
Imagine unique blend of soulful melodies and spirit filled instruments. The type of music that speaks one universal language, a language of humanity.
People have described my sound as a earthy, tranquil and peaceful. This is exactly the Hallmark of my my music and like to gift to the world because this is where my soul mostly dwells.
I cannot tell you any other musician that sounds like me but if you like conscious soul music imagine a mix of India Arie, Chantress Sheba chanting vibrations and Sade Adu delivery. If you like weird girl music like Aurora and transience music like Enya then you’ll love Spirit Guitar.
This projet is created in Lifecamp Abuja with the dream team. Bruno lending his production expertise and trained musical knowledge alongside equally trained violinists and musicians. Together we will expand on my spirit guitar home recorded demos.
For the first time in my career, I record my music on with professional gear, live musicians with professional mixing and mastering all on my own terms. A far cry from my solo bedroom records. I know there will be so many things to learn from this next level of my creative process and I am ready to be pushed beyond my comfort zone.
A special thank you to Tassilo Schuster for helping me create my gofundme page and being extremely supportive of me and my music career from day one.
I am beyond grateful. This has been the experience of a lifetime and I am so ready to get Spirit Guitar out into the world.
The Land & the dream
This music isn’t separate from the land I now call home. I was 28 when I bought my first piece of property in the face of people telling me it wasn’t possible & my family looking at me strangely as to why my aspirations as a young woman included sovereignty.
January 2025 saw me start my sustainable farming operations after a road trip from hell where I personally drove my Camry pencil light nearly 24 hours non-stop from Abuja to Anambra and back!
And in September, I moved to a piece of farmed land in Anambra, and I have a vision: to build a simple one-bedroom off-grid house, fence the land, start camping / retreat infrastructure, and eventually cultivate a healing sanctuary.
Imagine:
The first guest is sleeping under canvas of stars, waking to dawn and birdsong
A fire pit and circle of songs at night
Yoga, breathwork, sound healing, quiet walks, conscious music DJ sets, somatic movement sessions, farm to table meals & massage therapy
Musicians/Creatives gathering on the land to write, practice, and share
A community of support, connection, creative expansion & spirituality
This retreat space, even at its humble start, will be an extension of my music. I envision a vessel for rest, healing, and the kind of deep listening, and connecting to the Divine I hope to share through Spirit Guitar.
How These Two Worlds Merge
I deeply believe that music and places of healing are one. The EP and this sanctuary feed one another:
Just like nkà ọgwụgwọ festival, NAPPYESE Farm & retreat home will be a live space where people experience Spirit Guitar’s songs in real, embodied ways
The land and retreat will host future concerts, residencies, workshops
Supporters who help build this begin as part of the story not just donors, but collaborators in creating something alive and evolving
Funding Breakdown & Transparency
Here’s where your donation goes:
What It Covers
Music / EP: Studio, mixing, mastering, session musicians, marketing, physical CD pressing, small tour support
Off-Grid Build: One-bedroom house structure, basic materials, solar / water / plumbing setup, fence, roofing
Retreat Infrastructure Camping gear, toilets, firepit, seating, paths, basic amenities
I will post regular updates (photos, videos, stories) here so you can see progress in both the music and the land.
As a thank you, supporters will get credit in the EP, early listening sessions, first invites to retreats, and behind-the-scenes access to my journey.
Why It Matters to Me — & to You
I have 31 years of carrying, resisting, rebuilding, reclaiming. Music saved me. Land is healing. I want to build something that isn’t just for me. I want to invite you into that to co-author, co-create, witness, receive, and expand.
If you resonate, whether it’s the music, the dream of a grounded sanctuary, or the idea of healing in community, I’d be grateful if you’d join me. Make a donation & share my gofundme link with one or two people.
Updates on the progress of the projects will be shared here for transparency
Thank you for reading, believing, giving, witnessing.
ESE
NAPPYESE 