World of Jamaican Music

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An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

Remembering Derrick Harriott (1939-2026), rocksteady singer and producer. Read his story →

Bongo Herman

Artist. Ska, reggae, roots, dancehall

Active
1950s-present
Also known as
Priest Herman, Herman Davis, Bongo Herman, Les & Bunny, Bongo Herman & Bingy Bunny

Bongo Herman is a hand drummer and percussionist who has played through every era of Jamaican music since the ska days. He grew up in Trench Town alongside the young Bob Marley, began playing in the late 1950s, and appeared on the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour in the 1960s. In 1966 he drummed with Count Ossie's group at the airport to welcome Haile Selassie.

His first cut of "We Are Praying," one of the imitations of the Maytals' gospel-ska hits, came out on Prince Buster's Voice of the People label. At the start of the reggae era he played percussion in Derrick Harriott's session band, the Crystalites, with Bongo Les, and with Bingy Bunny, later of the Morwells, he cut new versions of "We Are Praying" and "Know Far I" for Harriott, records that brought Rastafari chant into early reggae. Harry Mudie issued instrumentals featuring him, and he played on the riddim of the Abyssinians' "Satta Massagana."

Through the 1970s and 1980s he was in steady demand in the studios, and he appeared in the film Rockers (1978). In the 1990s his version of Studio One's "Drum Song," played with Dean Fraser and Sly and Robbie, became a dancehall riddim in its own right. Asked what the work takes, he put it in terms of timing: "You have to know when to play and when not to play." He talked of the drummer and percussionist as a pair who must know when to mix it up, of the Nyabinghi drum as "the heartbeat of the people," and of cabasa, vibraslap, chime, and the rest as seasoning. In 2026 he was named a recipient of the Badge of Honour for Meritorious Service.

Last updated November 4, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. Yasmine Peru, "'Young Man See Vision,' Bongo Herman Says of Badge of Honour," Jamaica Gleaner, September 3, 2026, https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20260903/young-man-see-vision-bongo-herman-says-badge-honour.
  2. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 36. The Rough Guide calls him "Priest (Bongo) Herman Davis" here and gives no year. The Gleaner dates the start of his recording career to 1969. Peru, "Young Man See Vision."
  3. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 102, 103, 132. The Gleaner dates "Know Far I" to 1971. Peru, "Young Man See Vision."
  4. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 112, 182.
  5. Peru, "Young Man See Vision." The Gleaner gives his session credits (the Abyssinians, Jimmy Cliff, Prince Far I, the Congos, Culture, the Revolutionaries, the Roots Radics and Mikey Dread) from Wikipedia, so they are not repeated here.
  6. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 349, 356.
  7. "The Percussion Maestro," Jamaica Gleaner, April 21, 2019, https://www.pressreader.com/jamaica/jamaica-gleaner/20190421/281736975854399.
  8. Peru, "Young Man See Vision."

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