Muscat: "He seemed really nice. His last words to me was that he really liked my style of music."
Those were the words of Maitrai Joshi, a Muscat-based DJ who was one of the last ever people to speak to late global EDM sensation Avicii after he was found dead in Muscat on Friday.
Speaking exclusively to Times of Oman, Maitrai paints a picture of Avicii in his last days as someone who was not just happy to be in Muscat, but had also made plans to see more of Oman.
Maitrai, who met Avicii (real name, Tim Bergling) at a five-star resort in Muscat last Friday and Saturday, says, "I was playing there and I recognised him. I went up to him and asked for a photograph and that's when I got the first photo.
"On Saturday I went there for dinner and he was there with his group of friends and I took my second photograph. Avicii was staying there but they were going to go to the outskirts because that's what he said."
"He said he was leaving [the resort] the next day to go to the outskirts of Oman."
Avicii retired from public performances in 2016 citing health issues, saying he had "too little left for the life of a real person behind the artist". However, the Grammy-nominated EDM music sensation has continued releasing new studio music ever since.
"To be honest, he didn't seem sick or ill to me. [When I met him] I had asked him how he liked Muscat and he said he loved it," Maitrai says, adding that the news shocked him even more, knowing he had med Avicii just a few days ago:"It's really sad news. I got to know from my Facebook and people messaging me. More than sad, it's shocking to have met him a week back."