Ramesh Shotham (born May 7, 1948 in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

) is a

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

and

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

Life

Ramesh Shotham was born in

, South India. He graduated with a degree in zoology from Loyola College, University of Madras. He began his musical career as a self-taught drummer, co-leading a rock band called Human Bondage established in 1970 in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

and

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

then hitting the road gigging in clubs all over the subcontinent. Musical influences at this stage were

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

, and others. It took a live

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North Ind ...

concert in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

, and a chance meeting with a tourist, who was heading back West and wanted to hock his albums, amongst them ‘Birds of Fire’ by the Mahavishnu Orchestra, for Shotham to begin discovering his own musical roots: the vast ocean of

Indian music Owing to India's vastness and diversity, Indian music encompasses numerous genres in multiple varieties and forms which include classical music, folk (Bollywood), rock, and pop. It has a history spanning several millennia and developed ove ...

. During the mid-seventies Shotham returned to Madras to take up study of the

thavil A ''thavil'' (Tamil:தவில்) or ''tavil'' is a barrel-shaped percussion instrument from Tamil Nadu. It is also widely used in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamilnadu and Telangana States of South India. It is used in temple, folk ...

(a traditional temple music drum), under Vidwan K.P.Ramu. Since then, he has lived and worked in Europe. Shotam is recognized as one of the most successful percussionists around. He has performed not only with leading European and American

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

Rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

ians, but also with artistes from Africa, Australia, China, Korea and several Arabic countries. During the last 20-odd years, Shotham has recorded over 250 LPs and CDs and has worked for almost all the leading TV and Radio stations in Germany and Europe. Mid-2000, he and his wife Alexandra established an independent record company called Permission Music Productions. In 1987 Shotham was responsible for introducing the late mridangam artist TAS Mani and his Karnataka College of Percussion (KCP) to the German rock group Embryo, paving the way for Mani's popularity in Europe. His current solo project, Madras Special, features Christian Zurner on electric bass, Zoltan Lantos on violin and Sandhya Sanjana on vocals.

Discography

* Open Hand ( Keytone, 1993/97) * Madras Special (Permission Music, 2002) * Urban Folklore (Double Moon, 2006)

As guest musician

Embryo An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male spe ...

: ''La Blama Sparozzi'' ( Schneeball Rec., 1982) * Embryo : ''Turn Peace'' (Schneeball Rec., 1989) *

Rabih Abou Khalil Rabih Abou-Khalil ( ar, ربيع أبو خليل, born August 17, 1957) is an oud player and composer born in Lebanon, who combines elements of Arab music, Arabic music with jazz, classical music, and other styles. He grew up in Beirut and moved t ...

: ''Between Dusk and Dawn'' (MMP, 1987; Enja Records, 1993) * Rabih Abou Khalil: ''Bukra'' (MMP, 1988;

Enja Records Enja Records is a German jazz record company and label based in Munich which was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971. The label's first release was by Mal Waldron, and early releases included European and Jap ...

, 1994) * Rabih Abou Khalil: '' Al-Jadida'' (

, 1990) * Rabih Abou Khalil: ''

Blue Camel ''Blue Camel'' is an album by the Lebanese oud player and composer Rabih Abou-Khalil. The album fuses traditional Arabic music with jazz. It was recorded in 1992 and released on the Enja label.

'' (Enja Records, 1992) * Rabih Abou Khalil: ''

Tarab ''Tarab'' is an album by the Lebanese oud player and composer Rabih Abou-Khalil, fusing traditional Arab music with jazz, which was recorded in 1992 and released on the Enja label the following year.

'' (Enja Records, 1993) *

Aziza Mustafa Zadeh Aziza Mustafa Zadeh ( az, Əzizə Mustafazadə; born December 19, 1969) is an Azerbaijani singer, pianist, and composer who plays a fusion of jazz and mugham (a traditional improvisational style of Azerbaijan) with classical and avant-garde in ...

: ''

Seventh Truth ''Seventh Truth'' is the fourth album by the Azeri jazz musician Aziza Mustafa Zadeh. It was released by Columbia Records in 1996. Zadeh reported that the cover caused some controversy in Azerbaijan because it featured nudity; she responded: "Why ...

'' (Columbia, 1996) *

Charlie Mariano Carmine Ugo Mariano (November 12, 1923 – June 16, 2009) was an American jazz saxophonist who focused on the alto and soprano saxophone. He occasionally performed and recorded on flute and nadaswaram as well. Biography Mariano was born in ...

: ''Nassim'' (1998) * Nicolas Simion: ''Balkan Jazz'' (Intuition Music, 2001) * Various Artists: ''Karma Culture: 21 Asian Pearl'' CD (Cop International, 2003) * Abaji: ''Music of a Nomad'' (Network, 2005) * Mariano,Schenk,Shotham : ''The Tamarind Tree'' (2007) * Omri Hason: ''Shati'' (Double Moon, 2008) * Hermann Kock: ''Two Trios'' (2008) * Embryo: ''40'' (Trikont,2010)

Notes

References

* http://www.shotham.org/ * http://www.cduniverse.com/sresult.asp?artistid=0&HT_Search=artist&HT_Search_Info=Ramesh+Shotham&cart=783970310&seeall=1

External links

The Official WebsiteDiscography at CD universe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shotham, Ramesh Living people Indian jazz musicians Indian percussionists 1948 births