Muruga Booker

Steven Bookvich known as Muruga Booker (born December 27, 1942) is an American drummer, composer, inventor, artist, recording artist, and an autonomous Eastern Orthodox priest.

Booker was born in Detroit, 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.

He is married to Patti, aka Shakti, and they have a daughter named Rani, and a son named Aaron from a previous marriage.

He previously lived in Detroit, New York City and Oakland, California.

He first professionally played drums in 1961 with "The Low Rocks" in Detroit as Steve Booker.

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.

Booker became known for his long, driving drum solos.

He shared the bill at venues like Detroit's Eastown Theatre and Grande Ballroom with Ted Nugent, Traffic, Jack Bruce, Mose Allison, Sam Lay, Jimmy Reed and many others.

He often performed as Steve Booker's New Volume.

In 1964 he began playing with folk-rock singers Jim & Jean, and also performed on their recordings Changes and People World, which also featured Harvey Brooks on guitar and bass.

In 1964 and 1965, Booker played and recorded with the psychedelic folk rock band The Spike Drivers, 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.

Starting in 1966 he began playing with John Lee Hooker at many Detroit area venues, and they were often booked as Hooker and Booker.

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.

In January 1970, Booker played several songs with John Lee Hooker on a TV show called Detroit Tube Works, which was syndicated and aired on TV stations all over the United States.

In the early 1970s Booker often played with Ted Nugent, who referred to him in an interview as "dangerous and incredible" on drums.

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 the late 1970s and early 1980s Booker lived in New York City and played with David Peel on several projects including "King of Punk" and "Death to Disco".

While recording "Junk Rock" with David Peel, Muruga recorded for the first time with the Nada Drum that he invented (it was referred to as an "Electric Talking Drum" on this song).

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 1971, Muruga met Darius Brubeck, the son of jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, and along with clarinetist Perry Robinson they formed the electronic experimental trio MBR.

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.

In 1973 and 1974, he recorded with Weather Report on their albums Sweetnighter and Mysterious Traveller.

In 1980 he moved back to Detroit, where he connected with funk legend George Clinton and became an official member of the P-Funk All-Stars.

His band at that time, Muruga and the Soda Jerks, with Sly Stone on bass guitar, was recorded and produced by George Clinton and he appeared on many Parliament-Funkadelic and P-Funk All-Stars recordings, and related projects.

Booker continues to work with George Clinton and play with the P-Funk All Stars as his schedule allows.

Since 1985, Booker and his family have lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he has his own recording studio called Sage Ct. Studio, as well as an Eastern Orthodox Church where he is the priest, Saint Gregory Palamas Celtic Orthodox Church.

Booker first played the accordion before taking up drums as a preteen.

He studied drums under Misha Bichkoff, a Russian music teacher.

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.