Ramesh Shotham was born in Madras, South India. After graduating from Loyola College, University of Madras with a degree in zoology, he began his musical career as a self-taught drummer, co-leading a Rock band called Human Bondage. In 1970 the band established itself in Bombay (Mumbai) and Bangalore, after which it hit the road, performing all over the Subcontinent.
This was in the aftermath of Woodstock: planeloads of hippies, freaks, peace-corps workers and ‘disillusioned’ youth came from North America and Europe to India in search of peace, love and that nebulous Nirvana! They were pleasantly surprised to discover not only Gurus, Swamis, elephants and snake charmers, but also genuine Rock music played by Human Bondage and other such bands gigging in clubs in Bombay, Delhi and Goa! Musical influences at this stage were of course, to a great extent, the Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Cream, et al.
It took a live Ravi Shankar concert in Delhi, 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!
During the mid-seventies, after having spent several months in Bombay with the late great Pakhawaj master Arjun Shejwal, Ramesh returned to Madras (Chennai), to take up study of the Tavil (a traditional temple music drum), under Vidwan K.P.Ramu. This led him to extending his repertoire to other classical percussion instruments, like Ghatam, Mridangam, Kanjira and Morsing at the Karnataka College of Percussion, founded by Professor T.A.S. Mani.
In 1980 Shotham came with the Indo-Jazz-Fusion group Jazz Yatra Septet to perform at various European festivals. This three month tour started in Prague and ended in Munich, where the group recorded a ground-breaking album titled ‘Sangam’, which made the Deutsche Schallplattenkritik’s List in 1981.