Eva Abraham - Voice, sound vibration healer, songwriter, musician, producer…
Eva, a North Londoner born and bred to eastern European parents. Her Mother of Polish decent and her Father Hungarian decent, was naturally brought up a catholic.
Although not ‘religious’, Eva has definitely always been ’Spiritual’ and drawn to the spiritual life, even if she wasn’t aware of the fact until her early 20’s.
In truth, as a child she couldn’t understand why anyone would ever want to become a priest or nun. To her it seemed a very lonely, stark existence.
During one Sunday mass at a very young age Eva asked her Mum “why do people decide to become priests or nun’s?” her Mum replied “God calls them” to which her literal childs mind took her to a white dial telephone hanging on the church wall ringing and thought “I really hope God doesn’t ring me up!”
In retrospect, Eva has spent much of her life denying her calling because although not a priest or nun of any religion, she is very much a vessel for Spirit, a channel for healing.
Indeed, from day one, Eva has been told her voice makes people cry and sends shivers down their spine, something she initially thought negative and flawed, but soon realised this as a real compliment and a great confirmation of her talent.
The solitary life was always calling, but her upbringing and subsequent fear meant Eva was always looking for herself in another to complete her, to fulfil her.
There was always a yearning - a huge pull and conflict going on inside that has healed and been understood over time through her Music and Spiritual practice.
As a single person these past 12 years, Eva has found she can fully focus and dedicate her life to Spirit absolutely through music and sound.
So the beginning of it all….
The old cliché of hairbrush in-front of the mirror, standing on the coffee table singing to her toys absolutely applies here!
Eva knew she wanted to sing for as long as she can remember. She would sit at the piano making up songs and melodies, sounds, and tears would spring to her eyes, something which she now knows as Spirit coming through and moving her young Soul.
Eva would be singing constantly, asking family members to sing so she could harmonise, but sadly more often than not, she was told to be quiet. So Eva would find herself harmonising with the washing machine, or any engine that happened to make a sound!
Eva and her brother Andy began piano lessons from the age of seven, but it was the acoustic guitar she really yearned to play, so she could easily sing and accompany herself, but her parents couldn’t afford both and figured the piano to be the best option.
Her voice was always and still is her first instrument however.
For her 13th birthday, Eva’s parents bought a portable TV radio cassette player which she loved and could now record all her favourite songs straight from the radio and also the TV - everything from Calamity Jane to the 7 up ad (which she can still sing for you if you ask nicely!)
Through this, Eva figured out a very crude but effective way to overdub her voice by using both the house stereo with her new portable combo and two cassettes, harmonising to her hearts content!
And so began her interest in sound recording and production.
Age 16, with school friend Simon accompanying on piano, the two played many church cabarets where Eva met keyboard player and musician Andrew. A few functions later they landed a residency at the legendary Greedy Grape! A tiny cellar in East Barnet.
They had great fun spanning the gamut of genres, from musicals to folk to jazz standards and beyond, often morphing two completely opposite styles at the drop of a hat much to the amusement of the audience.
Slowly Eva began to write her own songs and eventually plucked up the courage to place an ad in Melody Maker and NME (remember when we used to do that?) as a session singer! A few very iffy sessions later, Eva met a group of likeminded musicians, and they formed the band ‘A Girl Called James’.
It was whilst in AGCJ, Eva was given her first acoustic guitar at 20. She quickly learned three chords, wrote her first song, and performed it in the middle of an AGCJ set at the George Robey no less!
However, it was the song ‘Poison Patchwork’ about the environment was the real start to her songwriting.
From day one, a thread of spiritual consciousness began to emerge from her work, even if Eva was not conscious of it herself.
Her songs, of course, were a way of processing, expressing and understanding her thoughts, emotions, conflicts and everything in the world was good when she had written a new song no matter what was going on around her. She had found her sanctuary, a safe place to heal and decipher.
Eva began playing solo gigs when AGCJ came to an end fairly quickly, playing the mean fiddler acoustic room regularly and also the acoustic scene of the time, namely Bunjies and The Troubadour amongst others. Musicians seemed to gravitate to her, which was very natural and a great confirmation, so soon came Eva’s own first band Eva-lution.
Eva-lution played all the London venues of the time from Dingwall's, Ronnie Scotts, Jazz cafe right through to The Dublin castle. They gained a nice following toured the UK and recorded three albums on their own label Sunflower records.
In 1997, there came a huge shock, when Eva-lution’s guitarist and close friend Jim Thomas became ill and in December of that same year was diagnosed with leukaemia. He was admitted to hospital and sadly died 15 weeks later. He was 28.
This shook Eva tremendously and for a time wished she could join Jim wherever he was.
Needing to feel closer to him, and with the help and guidance of her late Auntie Kasia through Angels, meditation and development groups, she turned more deeply towards the metaphysical realms. Finding Kundalini yoga, runes, tarot, dreaming and journeying, past life regression, life after death, astral projection, all areas of great interest, magic, enlightenment and peace.
A close friend introduced her to the work of Carlos Casteneda just after Jim passed, and without even trying, Eva was dreaming and found herself journeying to meet him. Eva would look forward to going to sleep each night because she knew another adventure awaited her.
This helped heal and so fuelled her first solo album “Shadow Gazing”.
A time of great reflection and an opening into something Eva always felt but never really understood how to access. As time went on, Eva realised she had been shown a glimpse into something immense, something awesome, which she then had to go away and fully learn over time in order to understand access and achieve such states. She now was absolutely on the path!
“Shadow Gazing” made it through a failed record deal with short lived record company ‘City Rockers’ and was eventually released on Big Chill Recordings, to critical acclaim.
Eva continued writing songs and the spiritual thread was becoming ever more apparent. She presented Big Chill recordings with her new collection of songs who found it ‘too Spiritual’ for the label at that time.
Taking this very much to heart, Eva began to write in a way she thought might be more more acceptable, which of course never works, so for a time Eva felt very lost and unsure of her direction.
Listening to others ideas and opinions of what one should do, and how one should be, is never a good idea. However, the whole process was driving Eva further inward towards getting to know her true self, her true voice and sound. So honing her natural gifts, with her music and spirituality going hand in hand side by side always, Eva now needed to find the courage to begin really blending them together.
In late 2005 Eva experienced a fatal burst appendix and peritonitis. She very nearly died, but has no doubt that her Kundalini practice, mantra and meditation saved her by giving her the physical, mental and spiritual strength to realise she wasn’t leaving this way, as she had way more still to do!
Two years later, Eva was diagnosed with Lymphoma. With that knowledge, she became brave enough to admit she had been sadly unhappy in her marriage of 15 years, having come face to face with her mortality more than once, now she knew she had to leave.
In Jan 2011, it became necessary for Eva to undergo chemotherapy. By this time, she was in a very tumultuous, difficult and damaging relationship, which Eva describes as “harder than any illness or treatment I’ve ever had!” However, through all of this Eva never stopped making music. On the contrary, it was her lifeline, and she produced more music than ever, recording and releasing her album “Cold Light” and also writing music for film. Even if she felt, to quote the great Stevie Wonder, “where is my Spirit? I’m nowhere near it”, spirit was always by her side, gently guiding, teaching and inspiring.
Another blow came in Jan 2012 when Eva lost her beloved Auntie Kasia. She had been present as her Auntie passed, along with her two cousins. This was a beautiful, sad and deeply profound privilege for Eva that brought a tremendous insight into her work with spirit.
Soon after, her difficult relationship ended, as it had become intolerable for Eva. A hideous traumatic affair that rendered her mentally and emotionally broken. Awful as is was, she knew she had done the right thing because she had finally freed herself not just from that relationship but all past relationships and could now give her full attention to the relationship with herself and the Divine in a way she was unable to before…true freedom for Eva!
In such a desperate state, Eva found a medium close by who was able to help her initially then later referred her to a therapist who just so happened to be connected to a Spiritualist church, The London Spiritual Mission, in Notting Hill.
Completely unaware of the serendipitous nature of these events, Eva had stumbled across a new world where she would meet many other likeminded people. Eva began to sit in development circles, deepening and expanding her practice and understanding of spirit.
Under the tutelage, love and support of Trance medium Doreen Quinnell, Eva began to develop trance using her voice and sound. The blending of Music and Spirit was fully awakening into consciousness.
Combining voice with crystal bowls, drum and acoustic guitar, Eva currently leads sound healing workshops. She also collaborates with yoga teachers holding wellness retreats, studying sound therapy and the Shamanic way of life.
Sitting with Spirit in trance meditation, Eva finds that a language comes through her - perhaps a light language or an ancient voice before language existed? She does not question this but allows, and has learned to trust - which isn’t always so easy! As she blends daily with her development, which has so far been a very solitary and private process, she is being guided more and more to share the healing qualities and effects this carries.
Her most recent album “Songs For A New Earth”, released in March 2023 is solely her own work from beginning to end, and it is a fine example of that. Eva describes it as a huge learning curve, a labour of love that has lightened and enlightened her soul. “It is a massive achievement for me, and I am very proud of it”. To read the full story for SFANE click here.
Eva is looking forward to what's next. An album of healing voice and sounds, with crystal bowls. Another album of songs, simply voice, acoustic guitar and minimal harmonies. An album of devotional songs. Developing a new way to perform so that gigs/concerts are more than just performances. The idea is to bring a deeper more inclusive, immersive healing experience to the audience.
And finally…Eva plans to train as a celebrant, so all her skills and gifts are used to celebrate and hold space for life's most sacred occasions.
