He suffered a heart failure, and it was to be his last tune, his final performance.

The “Music of Christmas” concert at the Good Shepherd Assembly of God Petaling Jaya ended abruptly at about 9pm, and some wept.

Poesy Liang, who attended the concert, said the entire congregation prayed in vigil as Pragasam was rushed to a private hospital.

In a Facebook post, she said the youth percussionists never got to perform Pragasam’s grand finale arrangement with him.

Pragasam, the master percussionist, died in hospital at 3am, leaving many in a state of shock. He was 65.

He was arguably the most technically gifted drummer Malaysia ever had, the guy way in the back, giving music its spine and drive, its cohesion and contour, and a huge chunk of its personality.

For almost 50 years, Pragasam provided the raging backbeat for the bands he played in, valuing nuance and musicality over flash to capture the spirit of the time.

The instinctive flair and adroit compositional sense of the little drummer boy from Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, earned him a Fulbright scholarship from the United States in the early 1990s, where he researched ethnic music of Southeast Asia and world music.

Drive, passion, sheer genius

Jazz virtuoso Michael Veerapen said: “He was a true legend, divinely gifted, full of energy, drive, passion, creativity and sheer genius. A once in a lifetime phenomenon.

“I have known him since 1975, we started Asiabeat, played a ton of gigs together over the years, and he also featured on my only album, Picture.”

Music talent manager Daniel Dharanee said Pragasam’s contribution to Malaysian music and mentorship to musicians cannot be measured.

He said even when Pragasam was the drummer for the 70s band, Revolvers, he shared a vision that Asiabeat would be innovative and groundbreaking like John McLaughlin Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Asiabeat, a cosmic progressive, all-percussion ensemble, was formed in 1979 out of Pragasam’s sadness about human inability to comprehend one another.

“He was a drummer for all seasons and could play anything with ease,” said Dharanee, who once managed the late superstar Sudirman Arshad.

He recalled Pragasam told him he was grateful to be given a second chance when he suffered a heart attack in 2020. “He always pointed to the cross he wore and said, ‘it’s all because of Jesus.”

Dashing and shooting to glory

In 1976, Revolvers band leader Freddie Fernandez was suitably impressed when he watched a new group, led by guitarist Terry Thaddeus, playing at the Glass Bubble disco at Jaya Puri Hotel (now PJ Hilton).

It was called Zachariah Dash and boasted some experienced personnel like Thaddeus, Singaporean June Abdullah (vocals), Din of the Grim Preachers (bass) and Bob from Filipino band, Downbeats (keyboards).

Fernandez recalled: “What struck me the most about the band was the drummer, a long haired young teenage boy whom I had never seen before.

“His playing was amazing and gave the band a free flowing, infectious rhythm and backbeat that kept patrons enthralled as they danced the night away.”

He said he later read a write-up on the band and the drummer was mentioned as C Lewis. Upon checking, he found out that his full name was Pragasam Chandran Lewis.

“He was one of the many young musicians Thaddeus had discovered in his long and illustrious career as a bandleader,” said Fernandez.

When Zachariah Dash broke up after the gig, coincidentally drummer Frankie Liu, who was playing for the Revolvers, also left to migrate to Canada.

Fernandez convinced Pragasam to join the Revolvers and the group soon landed a gig at Glass Bubble.

The band comprised Augustine Manuel (vocals), Anuar Razak (bass), Ronnie Pereira (guitar), Pragasam (drums) and Charlie Peters and Fernandez on keyboards.

“Pragasam’s amazing drumming provided the foundation for a strong rhythm section and awesome energy for the band as we packed the crowds between 1977 and 1980,” he recollected.

Fernandez said Pragasam got into jazz fusion around that time and idolised a Panamanian drummer called Billy Cobham, who was playing with the Mahavishnu Orchestra under John McLaughlin.

“He would practice eight hours a day in his house just to try and emulate Cobham’s drum techniques.

“I would sometimes sit and watch him practice, totally awestruck at the amazing things he was doing,” he said.

Fernandez said he has, through a Malaysian friend who is married to a Panamanian woman, received a message from Cobham, which read: “What a shame and loss. Condolences to his family.”

While with the Revolvers, Pragasam met pianist Veerapen, who had a part-time jazz outfit called Vintage that comprised bassist David Yee (who played at Pragasam’s last gig on Saturday as well) and David Lim on guitar.

He used to gig with them to hone his jazz chops during breaks from the Revolvers’ Glass Bubble stint.

Fernandez said Veerapen and Pragasam were instrumental in organising the first jazz rock concert in the country at University of Malaya in 1977.

The concert featured some top pop bands playing fusion jazz music, with bands like Discovery, Delta and the Revolvers playing jazz alongside Vintage, instead of the usual Top 40 repertoire they were acclaimed for.

“This foray into fusion jazz led Pragasam to start working on his dream project called Asiabeat.

“He wanted to blend Asian ethnic rhythms together with Western fusion jazz, and in 1979 started working in earnest with some friends on the project.

“Because of this burning passion for the Asiabeat project, I knew he would not be sticking around with our band much longer.

“But thankfully he stayed long enough to finish recording our first album called Perpisahan, which was launched in 1981 and made waves in the local music scene,” said Fernandez.

He said after leaving the Revolvers in 1981, Pragasam went on to promote his Asiabeat project but quickly came to the realisation that there were not enough gigs and concerts in jazz and fusion to keep a band going.

“So Asiabeat had to delve into Top 40 material as well and continued to perform in clubs with various line-ups over the years,” he said.

Pragasam started to get international recognition around this time and hooked up with some world-class musicians like Bob James, Nathan East and John Kaizan Neptune, and got the chance to perform alongside them at various shows and festivals.

Fernandez said he lost contact with Pragasam for many years while all this was going on, as he was busy with his own career as a jingle producer and had started delving into television productions.

Last November Fernandez was part of the team organising the Riverjazz festival, and percussionist Steve Thornton arranged an all-star band, comprising top names like Pragasam, John Thomas, Razak Rahman. Rozhan and Eric Li, to perform alongside foreign stars like saxophonist Joe Rosenberg.

Fernandez, who is Karyawan president, said: “I hadn’t seen him since then but heard there was a health scare about two months ago but he managed to shake it off and was recovering.

“Maybe it was too early to start performing again but knowing Pragasam, he loved to do the impossible, and agreed to perform at the Christmas show.

“Maybe it was fitting he left doing the thing he loved doing most of all – playing the drums. Rest in peace my dear friend, and thanks for the memories.”

The wake is from 9.30am-10pm at the Church of Holy Rosary parlour, Jalan Tun Sambanthan, Kuala Lumpur.

The funeral mass will be held tomorrow at the same church at 10am before cremation at the DBKL crematorium in Cheras.