A well-known Malaysian drummer has died after collapsing onstage at a rock festival, just two songs into his band’s performance.
Raja Azreen Raja Talib was performing with his rock group Meditasi — which translates to “Meditation” in English — at the Teruntum Rock Festival in Malaysia last month when he suddenly fell ill during the set.
The 56-year-old had just finished the second song of what was planned as a 10-song performance when frontman Bakaruddin Daud, known professionally as Burn, noticed him slumped over his drum kit.
“I rushed towards him, but I could feel that [he] was gone,” Burn told Malaysian newspaper Berita Harian when recalling the devastating moment, in comments translated from Malay. “I called and patted [him], but there was no response. His body was already cold.”
Burn said the crowd quickly became distressed as they realized something was wrong. He added that he was “truly shocked and deeply saddened” by the loss of his bandmate, who had shown no indication of feeling unwell before the performance began.
“He was really happy to meet up with friends. He didn’t appear sad or unwell,” Burn said.
Talib was taken to the nearby Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital following the collapse, but he was later pronounced dead.
“He was given respiratory assistance, but he did not regain consciousness or respond after the collapse,” the drummer’s older sibling, Raja, told the outlet, adding that his death was reportedly linked to heart complications.
Both Talib’s brother and bandmate Burn revealed that the late drummer had recently been diagnosed with diabetes.
His brother further shared that Talib was hospitalized in June due to heart issues.
“He was hospitalized twice; the first stay lasted two to three weeks before he was admitted again,” Raja said, adding that “it is possible that extreme fatigue took a toll” on his brother’s heart as he went straight from a BMX competition to the music festival where he ultimately died.
Meditasi was founded in 1983 as a group named Metal Wizard before they rebranded in 1989.
The band shot to fame during the golden era of Malaysian rock in the 1990s and are much loved for performing Malay-language rock and power ballads.
After going on a temporary hiatus, they reunited in 2015 and currently have more than 46,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.
