Since 1985, Booker and his family have lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan,[1] where he has his own recording studio called Sage Ct.
[4] Under that name he also achieved local recognition playing in 1962 with the "Thunder Rocks"[5] and both bands released singles on the Sabre Records label, which they also created.
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.
[6] In 1964 he began playing with folk-rock singers Jim & Jean, and also performed on their recordings Changes and People World,[7] which also featured Harvey Brooks on guitar and bass.
[14][15] At Woodstock he met Swami Satchidananda who invited him to visit him at the Integral Yoga Institute[16] in New York City, where he gave him the name Muruga.
[17] 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,[18] which was also the first recording that Don Was engineered.
Muruga performed and toured with the band at many high-profile concerts, including an appearance at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
[15] 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".
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.
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 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.
[38] In 2004, Muruga formed the band Free Funk, featuring P-Funk All-Star rapper Louie "Babblin'" Kabbabie[39] and George Clinton's son Tracey Lewis[40] (aka Trey Lewd).
[43] In 2010, Muruga Booker and The Rain Forest Band (featuring Badal Roy on percussion, Perry Robinson on clarinet) played at the Detroit Jazz Festival.
That same year, Booker joined Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia to record the Grammy-nominated album (and subsequent DVD) Blues From the Rainforest,[26] and their live CDs Save the Planet So We'll Have Someplace to Boogie (1992) and Fiesta Amazonica (1998).