Ethnic Malaysian Drum Grooves

Lewis Pragasam The founder and leader of the ASIABEAT Project started in 1979 mainly as an all percussion group and eventually incorporated other Asian and Contemporary instrumentation/musicians into the project. His work and recordings with ASIABEAT are now legendary in the pioneering effort of merging of Asian and contemporary instruments and the creation of a uniquely Malaysian/Asian identity. The project has 6 recordings released world- wide featuring artistes from around the world. He has worked/toured with numerous Jazz, Pop, World Music and Ethnic artistes either with the ASIABEAT Project or as a guest performer/session musician at various festivals n Singa- pore, USA, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, China, Scotland, Australia, UKLewis’ sheer passion, energy and vision or the drums has largely contributed to the huge regional interest and awakening of drumming and percussion in Asia. He received the prestigious ‘Fulbright Scholarship’ from the American government in 1990 and served as Artist-In-Residence at East Carolina University, NC. During his tenure in the US, he traveled extensively all over the country giving workshops and masterclass at various academic institutions.In 1994 lewis was invited for a Royal Command Performance for HRH Prince Charles as part of the Princes Trust Concert in Edinburgh, Scotland.Green Beat ‘live’ to promote and present eco-friendly initiatives through music and arts was established in 2017 by Lewis. The Pragasam – Eco Drum Series is the offshoot of this project.An advocate of music education, he has authored/published four books; An introduction to Drum Grooves, Ethnic Malaysian Drum Grooves, Groove Control – A Manual & Art of Drumming – My Style ii