World of Jamaican Music

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Ras Michael

Artist. Reggae

Active
1968-present
Sunrise
1943, St. Mary, Jamaica
Also recorded as
Dadawah

Ras Michael, born Michael George Henry in St. Mary, is a Nyabinghi drummer and singer, and with his group the Sons of Negus the principal voice of Rastafari devotional drumming on record. He has also recorded as Dadawah.

He grew up in a Rastafari community in St. Mary, where he learned hand drumming, and as a teenager moved to Waterhouse in Kingston and played with the Rastafari musicians there. In the mid-1960s he set up the Zion Disc label, which still issues most of his records, and worked at Studio One as a session musician for Coxsone Dodd while putting out singles of his own. His program Lion of Judah Time, first broadcast on the JBC in 1967, made him the first Rastafarian to present a reggae program on Jamaican radio. The Sons of Negus take their name from the Ethiopian royal title, and through it from Haile Selassie.

Kiddus I sang with the group and played the funde from 1971 to 1978. Tommy Cowan saw them in 1974 and released an album of their music that year as Nyahbinghi. It sold poorly, and for the next, Rastafari (1975, on Grounation), Cowan set the drummers against studio players: Robbie Shakespeare on bass, Earl "Chinna" Smith on guitar, Robbie Lyn on keyboards, and Peter Tosh on additional guitar, with a painting of the young Haile Selassie by Neville Garrick on the cover. It sold far better. Dadawah: Peace and Love, credited to Dadawah, came out on Lloyd Charmers's Wildflower label, and Rastafari Dub, with dubs of tracks from the 1975 album and from its successor, carries Geoffrey Chung on synthesizer, organ, and piano and was eventually issued by ROIR in 1989. Kibir Am Lak (1977), on Inner Circle's Top Ranking label, widened the group's audience in Europe and the United States.

He recorded at Lee Perry's Black Ark, including on sessions with Bob Marley, and the Sons of Negus made "Love Thy Neighbour" there and at Dynamic, with Perry mixing, issued in 1979 on Jah Life. He performed with Marley at the One Love Peace Concert on April 22, 1978, and in 1984 recorded "Give Love" with the British group Suns of Arqa. He has made more than twenty-five albums, among them Rally Round (1985) and Know Now (1989) for Shanachie, Zion Train (1988) for SST, Spiritual Roots (1999) and None a Jah Jah Children (2018) for VP, and Jah Love (2022) on Zion Disc.

He serves the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church internationally as an evangelist, and is a founder and president of the Rastafarian International/Marcus Garvey Culture Center in Los Angeles, where he lives, and of the Fly Away Culture Center in Kingston. He was named for the Order of Distinction in August 2015.

Last updated November 5, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Rough Guide gives his name as Michael George Henry and describes him as "a drummer and singer." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 172; on Dadawah, Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 173. On St. Mary and 1943, "Ras Michael," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ras_Michael.
  2. "Ras Michael," Wikipedia. Howard Campbell has him moving with his family to west Kingston as a boy, and quotes his own list of homes: "Salt Lane to Spanish Town Road, Back 'O' Wall, Rose Lane, Matthews Lane, Trench Town, Waterhouse." Howard Campbell, "For Ras Michael, the Journey Been from Back O Wall to King's House," reposted by Clinton Lindsay, October 18, 2015, https://clintonlindsay.com/2015/10/18/for-ras-michael-the-journey-been-from-back-o-wall-to-kings-house.
  3. The Rough Guide says he had led groups of Rastafarian musicians "since at least the mid-1960s, and had spasmodically released music on his own Zion Disc label," and mentions his Studio One release "Good People." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 172; on the early Zion Disc singles, including "Ethiopian National Anthem," Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 79.
  4. Ras Michael on the first show: "I went up to (the former) JBC... I say I would like to have a programme. They say Rasta, you have any money." Mel Cooke, "Ras Michael Focused on Togetherness," Jamaica Gleaner, January 23, 2013, http://old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20130123/ent/ent1.html. The program's name and the 1967 date are from "Ras Michael," Wikipedia.
  5. "Kiddus I," Wikipedia, accessed November 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiddus_I, the only source found.
  6. "Ras Michael," Wikipedia. The Trojan issue is dated 1974. "Ras Michael & The Sons Of Negus - Nyahbinghi," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/master/305545.
  7. The Rough Guide says "Rastafari" followed Cowan's production of the hit single "None a Jah Jah Children No Cry," with Tosh and Chinna Smith on guitars, Robbie Shakespeare on bass and Robbie Lyn on keyboards. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 173. The Grounation LP credits Neville Garrick with art direction. "Ras Michael & The Sons Of Negus - Rastafari," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/master/259584. On the sales of the two albums, "Ras Michael," Wikipedia.
  8. On "Dadawah: Peace and Love," produced by Lloyd Charmers, Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 173; Discogs dates the Wild Flower LP to 1974. "Dadawah - Peace And Love - Wadadasow," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/master/246682. The Rough Guide says "Rastafari in Dub" is not "a straightforward dub companion" to "Rastafari" but has versions from both it and "Kibir Am-Lak." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 241. The Top Ranking pressing credits Chung on keyboards; ROIR issued it as "Rastafari Dub" in 1989. "Sons Of Negus - Rastafari In Dub," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/master/910370.
  9. The Rough Guide calls it "very close in mood and instrumentation to Rastafari, simply adding Geoffrey Chung on keyboards." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 173. "Ras Michael And The Sons Of Negus - Kibir Am Lak Glory To God," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/master/259590. On its audience, "Ras Michael," Wikipedia.
  10. The Rough Guide says the album "was apparently recorded at Dynamic." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 173. The LP credits Dynamic and the Black Ark, with Perry as mix engineer; Discogs dates the first Jah Life pressing to 1981. "Ras Michael & The Sons Of Negus - Love Thy Neighbour," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/master/195622. On the Marley sessions, "Ras Michael," Wikipedia.
  11. Ras Michael recalled that the concert "closed with Peter Tosh, then Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus and then Bob Marley and the Wailers." Cooke, "Ras Michael Focused on Togetherness." On Suns of Arqa, "Ras Michael," Wikipedia.
  12. Cooke counts twenty-five albums. Cooke, "Ras Michael Focused on Togetherness." For the titles and labels, "Ras Michael," Wikipedia.
  13. "Ras Michael," Wikipedia.
  14. "Ras Michael," Wikipedia.

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