A Malaysian rock drummer has died onstage after collapsing over his drum kit just two songs into a festival set.
Raja Azreen Raja Talib, 56, was performing with his band Meditasi at the Teruntum Rock Festival in Kuantan, Malaysia, last month when the incident occurred. Frontman Bakaruddin Daud, known as Burn, was the first to notice something had gone terribly wrong.
“I rushed towards him, but I could feel that [he] was gone,” Burn told Malaysian newspaper Berita Harian of the tragic moment, translated from Malay. “I called and patted [him], but there was no response. His body was already cold.”
“The fans were quite alarmed when they saw what was happening,” Burn continued, adding that he was “truly shocked and deeply saddened” by the death of his bandmate. Talib had shown no signs of ill health before they took the stage at the festival.
“He was really happy to meet up with friends. He didn’t appear sad or unwell,” Burn said.
But shortly after he collapsed and was rushed to the nearby Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital, Talib was pronounced dead.
“He was given respiratory assistance, but he did not regain consciousness or respond after the collapse,” the drummer’s older sibling, Raja, confirmed to the outlet, adding that the cause of death was reportedly 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.
In the viral moment that has since drawn mourning from Malaysian rock fans across social media, Talib slumped over his drum kit after completing the second song of what was planned as a 10-piece set. The collapse came without warning during what Burn described as an otherwise joyful evening, with Talib eager to reconnect with fellow musicians and perform for the festival crowd.
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.
The Teruntum Rock Festival continued to draw attention in the days following Talib’s death as fans and fellow musicians paid tribute to the veteran drummer across social platforms.