http://www.jazzdimensions.de/interviews/the_world/2007/ramesh_shotham.html

I’ve always tried to tinker with my percussion set-ups, never having been satisfied with regular run-of-the-mill music store products. Finally I’ve found some fine professionals to help me put a unique set together. Check this out:

Willy Wahan built me a custom Tavil rack, below which is a 16″ Wahan bass drum (natural wood finish). Mounted on the rack is a floating 12″ Wahan Tom. I also use a 10″ Wahan snare drum.

Christian Krebs, from Box of Trix, invited me to test their new Anatolian Cymbals and I fell in love straightaway with a 20″ ride (Passion), a 18″ crash (Ultimate), 12″ Power Hi-Hat (Ultimate), and 8″, 10″ and 12″ splashes (Baris), which are part of my set-up now.

Mario Schmitt made it possible for me to receive some fantastic percussion products from Meinl such as the fibreglass IBO drum, Aluminium Dombak, Talking Drum, etc.
Two other unique instruments I discovered, to my good fortune, are the ‘Hang’ made by Felix Rohner and Sabine Schirer at Panart in Bern, and the ‘Pentajon’ by Christoph Franzen at Klangspiel.

The ongoing tour with KCP 5 has been a great success so far. The highlight up until now has to be the concert with the WDR Big Band at the Philharmonie in Cologne. This was a sold out affair and it was an incredible experience to perform Mike Herting’s arrangements of KCP 5’s tunes for the big band! To top it all off, U. Shrinivas as special guest on the electric mandolin was sensational!

Anatolian Cymbals
I’m very happy to have discovered the new range of Anatolian cymbals and am currently the latest addition to Box of Trix’s official endorsers.

Many Ways by KCP 5 is now being promoted by Doublemoon Records and will be out in March 2007. This was recorded in Bangalore last year. Before going into the studio we performed an open air concert for World Space Radio. The CD-release tour starts beginning of March and includes a stint with the WDR Big Band. The tour dates are on this website.
Another CD soon to be released, is on Vitold Rek’s Taso label titled Home, featuring Jaroslaw Bester on accordion, Vitold on bass and myself playing percussion.

I just returned from Switzerland after recording an album with Omri Hason’s group Kadim, which also features Madras Special members Sandhya Sanjana and Zoltan Lantos. Special guest this time was Maarten Meddens from Rotterdam playing Fender Rhodes in his unique funky manner!
We also performed 5 live concerts in Bern, Zug, Sion, Langenau and Zürich to enthusiastic audiences.
On this trip I added a new percussion instrument in my repertoire of instruments:the Pentajon, which is a 5-sided cajon and offers unique rhythmic and tonal possibilites! The Pentajon is Christoph Franzen’s creation. Check it out at: www.pentajon.de