KUALA LUMPUR: A pianist with the Malacca art brigade who performed for the Umno General Assembly presidential dinner on last night, Zainal Ismail, 65, died in his sleep at a hotel this morning.
Zainal’s body was sent to hospital Kuala Lumpur at 3pm before his remains was driven back to his hometown in Serkam Darat, Malacca to be laid to rest at the cemetery at about 5.30pm.
Malacca tourism promotion bureau managing director Abdul Kadir Md Idris said Zainal has been in the brigade for seven years and had suffered from high-blood disease.
“He did not wake up from his sleep this morning and we immediately called the ambulance and police.
“It is a great loss for the brigade as Zainal is a well-respected professional musician and he was known as a warm and well-mannered friend.
“It is still early to say what we plan to do exactly but we will do something to make his contributions to the brigade known and appreciated. We will present it to his family,” he told the New Straits Times.