Muruga Booker

Steven Bookvich (born December 27, 1942), known as Muruga Booker, is an American drummer.

Biography Booker was born in Highland Park, Michigan, on December 27, 1942, at Highland Park General Hospital, and is of Serbian descent. His father, Melvin Bookvich, was a shoemaker who played accordion.

Musical career 1950s Booker first played the accordion before taking up drums as a preteen. He studied drums under Misha Bichkoff, a Russian music teacher. Under that name he also achieved local recognition playing in 1962 with the "Thunder Rocks" and both bands released singles on the Sabre Records label, which they also created. and they recorded several songs including Can't Stand The Pain and I'm So Glad.

In 1965 he was asked by Richard Williams to become a member of The Casuals to back up Brenda Lee, and he toured with them for several months all over the USA.

In 1968 he joined the Paul Winter and The Winter Consort, and performed on their album Something in the Wind.

In 1969, at the first Woodstock Festival, he played drums for Tim Hardin, along with cellist Richard Bock, from The Winter Consort. At Woodstock he met Swami Satchidananda who invited him to visit him at the Integral Yoga Institute in New York City, where he gave him the name Muruga. While at the Integral Yoga Institute he became friends with pop artist Peter Max, who also did the artwork for Muruga's 1970 release of Rama Rama/Endless Path, which was also the first recording that Don Was engineered. A song that was the result of a jam session with Nugent ended up becoming "Stranglehold", which was based around a drum beat and song of Booker's.

In November 1971, he recorded with Allen Ginsberg and Bob Dylan on sessions at The Record Plant, New York, NY, and the resulting recordings were included on several releases by Ginsberg, including First Blues and Ginsberg's box-set release Holy Soul Jelly Roll: Poems & Songs. The engineer on the sessions with Ginsberg and Dylan was Jack Douglas. In 1972, they recorded the album Chaplin's Back which featured reinterpreted music compositions by actor Charlie Chaplin.

In 1973, Muruga joined the Darius Brubeck Ensemble, along with Perry Robinson. At that time, Dave Brubeck decided that he wanted his sons Darius and Chris Brubeck and their bands to tour with him, to open for his band the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Muruga toured as part of the Darius Brubeck Ensemble, along with Perry Robinson, and opened up for, and played alongside the quartet, which gave him the opportunity to play with Dave Brubeck, as well as alongside Gerry Mulligan and Paul Desmond and Alan Dawson. Muruga performed and toured with the band at many high-profile concerts, including an appearance at Carnegie Hall in New York City. on their albums Sweetnighter and Mysterious Traveller. Booker continues to work with George Clinton and play with the P-Funk All Stars as his schedule allows.

In mid-1985 he moved to Oakland, California, and formed the band Muruga UFM, which included Big Brother and the Holding Company guitarist James Gurley.

In 1989, he recorded with Prem Das on the drum meditation album Journey of the Drums, as well as two other trance drumming recordings, that he released on his Musart record label.

1990s In 1990 he met Merl Saunders and they formed Merl Saunders and the Rainforest Band and recorded with Jerry Garcia, on the album Blues From the Rainforest. They toured to support the album with Steve Kimock on guitar, and John Popper on harmonica, and recorded Fiesta Amazonica, a 2 CD live recording called Save the Planet So We'll Have Someplace to Boogie as well as a live DVD of Blues From The Rainforest.

2000s In 2000, after moving back to Michigan a couple years prior, Booker formed the band Muruga and The Global Village Ceremonial Band, and released the CD One Global Village, featuring P-Funk vocalist Belita Woods and Perry Robinson. They played at several festivals including the Starwood Festival, Rhythm Fest 1 with Mickey Hart, and Rhythm Fest 2 with Airto Moreira. In 2002 his recording company Musart and the Association for Consciousness Exploration co-hosted the SpiritDrum Festival, a tribute to Babatunde Olatunji, also featuring Sikiru Adepoju, Badal Roy, Jeff Rosenbaum, Richie "Shakin'" Nagan, Halim El-Dabh, Perry Robinson, and Jim Donovan of Rusted Root.

In 2003 he began playing and recording with jazz saxophonist Mark Hershberger, and Richard Smith (bass guitar) as the Global Jazz Trio and as a five-piece group called The Global Jazz Project. Muruga no longer performs with The Global Jazz Trio or Global Jazz Project, but continues to record with Hershberger as a duo, or on various projects.

In 2004, Muruga formed the band Free Funk, featuring P-Funk All-Star rapper Louie "Babblin'" Kabbabie and George Clinton's son Tracey Lewis (aka Trey Lewd). Big Huge was remixed and remastered in 2016, with more songs included, and released as a digital download on Bandcamp.

2010s In 2010, Muruga Booker and The Rain Forest Band (featuring Badal Roy on percussion, Perry Robinson on clarinet) played at the Detroit Jazz Festival.

In 2013 he formed Muruga & the Cosmic Hoedown Band (Later renamed to Muruga Cosmic Boogie), with Muruga (drums, guitar, and vocals), Shakti Booker (vocals & drums), Parliament Funkadelic member Tony "Strat" Thomas (guitar), Patrick Sarniak (guitar), Benjamin Piner (bass), Douglas Weaver (bass), and Ralph Koziarski (woodwinds, brass & percussion).

In 2012 & 2014 Muruga won a Detroit Music Award for "Outstanding World Music Instrumentalist". In 2014 he won the Detroit Music Award for "Outstanding World Music Recording" for "Joty Drums" by Muruga Booker, Pandit Samar Saha, & John Churchville. Booker has been the recipient of a total of six Detroit Music Awards. The band consists of Muruga (drums), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Billy Davis (guitar & vocals), Tony "Strat" Thomas(guitar), John Sauter (bass guitar) (who also played with Hooker & Booker), Misty Love (former backup singer for Kid Rock), and special guest Peter "Madcat" Ruth. and on People World in 1966. He appeared on the Paul Winter Consort's Something in the Wind in 1968, and recorded a meditation record with Swami Satchidananda in 1969. During the 1970s he recorded with Darius Brubeck, Gunter Hampel, Al Kooper, Ursa Major, and with Weather Report. 1968 – Jim and Jean – People World 1968 – Paul Winter Consort – Something in the Wind 1978 – Mitch Ryder – How I Spent My Vacation 1981 – Funkadelic – The Electric Spanking of War Babies 1982 – George Clinton – Computer Games 1982 – Godmoma – Here (with Bootsy Collins) 1983 – P-Funk All Stars – Urban Dance Floor Guerillas 1984 – Muruga & The Soda Jerks – Boogy With You (single) 1985 – George Clinton – Some of My Best Jokes Are Friends 1989 – Prem Das, Muruga, and Shakti – Journey of the Drums 1990 – Merl Saunders and The Rainforest Band – Blues From the Rainforest (with Jerry Garcia) 1990 – Muruga – Muruga 1992 – Muruga U.F.M. (Unified Field Marshals) – Rock The Planet 1993 – Muruga & The Soda Jerks – George Clinton's Family Series: Testing Positive 4 The Funk 1993 – George Clinton – Hey Man... Smell My Finger 1994 – Sikiru Adepoju, Muruga, Babatunde Olatunji – Cosmic Rhythm Vibrations 1994 – Allen Ginsberg – Holy Soul Jelly Roll: Poems & Songs (with Bob Dylan) 1998 – Merl Saunders & the Rainforest Band – Fiesta Amazonica 1998 – Merl Saunders With His Funky Friends – 'Live!' 2003 – Buzzy Linhart – Presents the Big Few 2005 – Babatunde Olatunji – Circle of Drums 2005 – Global Jazz Trio – Live in Detroit: Global Jazz Trio at Baker's Keyboard Lounge 2009 – Global Jazz Project – Out Of This World: Live At The 30th Annual Detroit International Jazz 2009 – Peter Walker – Long Lost Tapes 1970 2010 – James Gurley & Muruga Booker – Big Huge 2011 – David Leikam & Muruga Booker – After the Ice Cream (with John Churchville) 2012 – Muruga Booker, Pandit Samir Saha, John Churchville – Joty Drums 2013 – Muruga & The Cosmic Hoedown Band – Changing The Sound of Your Room 2013 – Woodstock 40 Years On: Back to Yasgur's Farm (with Tim Hardin) 2014 – David Leikam & Muruga Booker – Lunar Frequencies / Solar Rhythms 2016 – Muruga & The Worms – Muruga & The Worms (with James Gurley) 2016 – Wormhole Cafe (feat. P-Funk All-Stars & more) – At The Wormhole Cafe 2016 – Muruga Cosmic Boogie – Harmonious World 2017 – Muruga Booker – Bio-Harmonic Rhythms 2017 – Booker Blues All Stars – Booker Plays Hooker 2017 – Muruga & The Global Village Ceremonial Band – Muruga & The Global Village Ceremonial Band (remastered) 2018 – Muruga Booker – Within The Within 2020 – Muruga Booker – Boom Zoom 2021 – Booker & Bridges DaLight – World Jamdemic 2021 – Muruga Cosmic Boogie – All Night Long

Filmography 1990 – Merl Saunders – Blues From The Rainforest: A Musical Suite Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs 2000 – Merl Saunders – Blues From The Rainforest: A Musical Suite 2005 – One: The Movie, Circle of Bliss Productions 2012 – Groovemonster, Quantum Media Arts 2014 – Border City Music Project documentary 2022 – Sitting Bull Standing Tall, Media Stream LLC

Other achievements In 1984 Booker invented and patented the nada drum, a variation on the talking drum, which was sold through Latin Percussion. He is a recipient of the 1991 Hiroshima Voices for Peace award. He won a "Best of Washtenaw County" Reader's Choice Award.