De Cruz was a performing arts writer with New Straits Times (NST) in the 1980s and was fortunate to see a lot of ‘live’ music, and be paid for it.

In his time, Pragasam played with several bands who were at the top of their craft, an electrifying drummer on stage with Malaysia’s best musicians.

“If I was writing about a band that included Lewis, I could not avoid giving special mention to him, not if I wanted to accurately represent the band. Such was the presence of his playing,” said Sydney-based de Cruz.

Like many other Malaysian musicians de Cruz wrote about, Pragasam became a friend.

He said he was worried for Pragasam when he set up the all-percussion group, Asiabeat, “because I wondered if there would ever be a market for him despite their smashing performances and albums.”

“But he was determined. He had his vision. And I can now understand that he saw Asiabeat as his purpose on this planet.

“He took the concept to great heights, faraway places and some of the best musicians anywhere.

“As a player, he was fast and furious, but he also had a remarkable ability to bring imagination, on-the-spot creativity, that special nuance when the music called for it,” he said.

Great musician, greater human being

De Cruz related a standout experience with Pragasam that spoke volumes about the musician and human being he was.

He had quit NST about ’83 to do advertising jingles, and one of his production jobs required him to record five songs for use in a ‘live’ song-and-dance routine to launch the Mitsubishi Tredia car in Kuala Lumpur.

He said it was a big job for him and he was nervous about the budget he had quoted. “I don’t read or write music.”

The arrangement for the songs were just a ‘draft’ in his mind, and he needed a drummer who would hear the demos, and just know what to do, no fuss, no wasting precious and costly studio hours.

De Cruz didn’t hesitate to pick Pragasam to lay the drum tracks and they got together at the Rediffusion studio, near Jalan Pahang, Kuala Lumpur, at the time.

He said he played rhythm guitar, with Charlie Peters on piano and synthesiser and Hamed Samad on lead guitar and bass.

“I knew the shape of the songs. We just let loose and the tape rolled. Lewis put his drum tracks down in about one hour. Five whole songs. Unbelievable. Unheard of.

“His drum tracks became the spine around which I built on that draft in my head, arranged the parts on the go. All the music was recorded after Lewis had finished,” he recalled.

De Cruz said while Pragasam’s job was basically over, he being a nice guy, chose to hang around to help him out.

For one of the songs, a reworking of the show tune, “Cabaret”, with Sukania Venugopal on vocals, Pragasam offered to add a percussion track using music blocks (hollow blocks of wood carved to play a specific note when you hit it).

De Cruz said Pragasam just came up with the idea, and put down a lovely solo in just one take. “It was the star of the song.”

Pragasam, he said, was more than just that quintessential drummer, “he could ‘see’ a sound in a box, a table top, a tap on a can.”

“He was someone who had a vision for the best in ethnic music, that special orchestral percussion that he kept putting together.

Like many, de Cruz described Pragasam as humble and determined, stubborn about his vision but in the most friendly way. Always with that smile.

“Then he sits on that stool, and he becomes something else. I grieve to know that he’s no longer with us.

“Another son of Malaysian music is gone. Lewis Pragasam, pioneer, icon, mentor, friend in need,” he said.

Valuing traditions through music

Pragasam composed the music track for the Petronas Deepavali commercial, Duelling Masseurs, which ran in 1996,1997 and 1999.

Former group account director of advertising firm Leo Burnett, Tony Savrimuthu, said Pragasam’s score won a Spike for Best Use of Music at the Asian Advertising Awards.

The Spikes are Asia’s most prestigious awards for creative communication, he added.

Savrimuthu said the advertisement, created by the late Yasmin Ahmad, showcased classical Indian beats that possess an element of duelling in their nature.

He said it also projected the way people in an Indian household appreciated their traditions through music, the ritual oil bath, and the relationship banter between family members.

The funeral mass for Pragasam will be held at 10am today at the Church of Holy Rosary parlour, Jalan Tun Sambanthan, Kuala Lumpur, before cremation at the DBKL crematorium in Cheras.