A legend: Pragasam passed away following a heart attack. — Photo sourced from his official fan page/Facebook
KUALA LUMPUR: Lewis Pragasam, a longtime Malaysian jazz drummer and inspiring educator whose powerful performances and deep knowledge of percussion and music history made him an institution in his own right, has passed away. He was 66.
According to the Lewis Pragasam Official Fanpage on Facebook, he died of a heart attack at a private hospital in Petaling Jaya at 3am yesterday.
A portal reported that he passed away peacefully, surrounded by family and friends.
On Dec 16, the Facebook page had posted videos of Pragasam interacting with fans at an event in Shah Alam. There were also announcements that Pragasam would perform at a Christmas event on Dec 17 and a live music showcase on Dec 21.
The Kuala Lumpur-born artiste, who started out as a classic/prog rock fan before discovering the jazz fusion possibilities of John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, was one of Malaysia’s most highly-regarded percussionists.
His ambition to create a fusion group driven by a cross-cultural music language led Pragasam to found the Asiabeat Project in 1979, which merged Asian and Western musical styles.
In 1983, the band leader broke new ground in the local recording scene when major label CBS released Asiabeat’s self-titled debut album, which offered a fusion of Asian ethnic rhythms and Western jazz.
The group, with Pragasam as the creative force, went on to release five more albums, including Dare To Dream in 1984, Drumusique in 1993 and Monsoon in 1994. In 2021, he released the Lewis Pragasam’s Asiabeat album titled Akar, a collaborative project reflecting how actively engaged he was in the contemporary pop fusion scene.
His energy, vision and passion for drums had largely contributed to the huge regional interest in drums and percussion.
Pragasam often lent his drum skills to top local artistes like Sheila Majid, as when she staged a jazz concert at Dewan Filharmonik Petronas (DFP) in 2000. He was also an in-demand session drummer/musician on hundreds of local albums spanning pop, rock and jazz.
As one of Asia’s leading percussionists, Pragasam performed with renowned artistes such as Bob James, Nathan East, Paul Jackson, Tony Levin, Billy Cobham and Andy Sheppard, as well as at major regional jazz events and international festivals, including a royal command performance for the then Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1995.
He received a Fulbright scholarship from the United States in the early 1990s, where he researched South-East Asian ethnic music and world music.
In the mid-1990s, he added music educator to his resume, following his relentless passion to nurture young talent and to create a broader awareness about drum culture.
He was a familiar and lively sight at drum clinics and percussion festivals across Malaysia.
In those years, Pragasam led his own Groove School, developed the “Drum Talk” educational series and was the music director at HELP Institute’s Centre of Performing Arts.
