Murasaki is a legendary hard rock band from Okinawa that was established in 1970 by George Murasaki, and twin brothers Toshio and Masao Shiroma. The name of the band, ‘murasaki’ means ‘purple’ in English and was chosen to pay homage to the band’s idols ‘Deep Purple.’

The Vietnam war was at its peak at that time, and towns around U.S. bases on Okinawa were teeming with military members on R&R. Lots of skilled musicians played rock at clubs every night. Murasaki debuted in mainland Japan in mid 70′s as one of the fist Japanese bands to play heavy rock music, and their album became a hit. He was then called the “Legend of Okinawan hard rock.”