Reggae Hall of Famer Rupert (OJIJI) Harvey walks memory lane with “Old Friends” in new video

BY MICHAEL THOMAS

“Old Friends” is the timely name of the latest music video from Barrie Ontario based, award-winning Reggae singer Rupert (Ojiji) Harvey.

In this video, Harvey took his fans down memory lane way back in time, as far back as the 70s, when he and his crew were growing up here in Toronto. The singer made special mention to the Vaughn Road neighbourhood in the west end of the city as a place where he and his good friends used to hang out.

He also mentions most of his old pals by name letting the viewers know who are still alive, who got deported, and even those that are dead. Even though his video is just over five and a half minutes long, Harvey manages to pack much of his life story in.

Harvey passed on wisdom in this musical piece, singing about he and his friends’ spirituality as well as how some of them fell from grace into the clutches of the white powder aka Cocaine.

I had the honour of speaking with this musician, singer, and father to learn more about his life and times in Toronto from childhood to where he is today.

Harvey told me that he came here, as an eleven-year-old kid. Back then, there were not many blacks here in Toronto, and not a whole lot for black kids to do.

“The government,” he said, “actually opened up a little community center for us on Vaughn Road just south of Saint Clair. It was a gathering placed for us youths.” Even so, Harvey never forgot his Jamaican roots and gives credit to his grandmother and great grandmother who brought him up to believe that he was second to none.

When asked about his childhood friends he said, “Sometimes when I watch the video, I have to hold back the tears and I do cry.” Harvey told me. “Unfortunately not everybody came up with the same parental guidance that I did and a lot them fell into crime, badness, were killed off or ended up in prison.”

I asked Harvey if he had any advice for young black kids growing up in this city now? “First of all,” he said, “iis self-love, and love each other. It does not matter where you are from. You have to honour your ancestors who went through a lot of struggles so that you could be alive today.”

Harvey was asked about his idols growing up and told me, “I was blessed because my brother was a musician in the famous (Studio-one) back in Jamaica. He played guitar for Toots and the Maytals for the last 40 years.”

As both a solo recording artist, the founder of legendary funk band, Crack of Dawn, and world-renowned Reggae outfit, Messenjah, Harvey has been an iconic mainstay on the Canadian music scene for more than four decades.

His awards include: a JUNO, CASBY, and the Q107 Music Award. Inducted into the Canadian Reggae Music Hall of Fame, Harvey’s music has been featured in several television and movie soundtracks. There was also a cameo appearance in the movie Cocktail.

Harvey spoke of how conscious reggae has taken a nose-dive since the death of Bob Marley, and in some cases has been replaced by the (gun-thing) and the “dutty gyal” vibe which he thinks is an invasion designed to damage the musical culture.

When asked what inspired him to create such a music video? He replied, “I thought you know what? I have a voice that I could use in remembering all these people and that era which a lot of young people today do not know about. It literally just poured out of me on paper.” 

Michelle Melles and Pedro Orrego produced his latest video. It features engineering and production contributions from Harvey’s son, Meshach. Harvey played most of the instruments on the track called” Old Friends.” Folks who want to download the track can go to (bandcamp.com).