Thanks to archivist Kevin Howes, a little-known chapter of Jamaican Canadian music history is coming to light.

Digging deep into the musical past has ensured an exciting future for Kevin Howes–and for some of the Jamaican-Canadian performers whose long-forgotten recordings he's recently unearthed.

Since 2003, Howes–a former Vancouverite (and onetime Straight contributor) now based in Toronto–has been researching the soul, funk, and reggae scene that prospered in Southern Ontario during the 1960s and '70s. But this story really begins in 1970, four years before Howes's birth, when Jamaican-born guitarist and singer Wayne McGhie and his Sounds of Joy band issued their one and only LP on the budget-minded Birchmount label. Wayne McGhie and the Sounds of Joy was not a hit, and never had a chance to be one: not long after it appeared, a fire at the Birchmount pressing plant destroyed most of the label's stockpile.

Only a handful of copies were sent out into the world. Nonetheless, 30 years later McGhie's record had become a cult favourite among hip-hop producers worldwide, thanks largely to drummer Everton Pablo Paul's much-sampled "Dirty Funk" drum break. Vinyl copies were commanding $500 or more, so when the Seattle funk duo the Sharpshooters played it for vintage-soul specialist Matt Sullivan, it was only natural that he wanted to release it on his Light in the Attic imprint. Trouble was, he couldn't track McGhie down or determine who held the rights to the Sounds of Joy disc.

"I was blown away by the record, and I ended up spending about two months or so going through Google and the White Pages and stuff, trying to find Wayne McGhie," Sullivan recalls from Light in the Attic's Emerald City headquarters. "I was just getting absolutely nowhere, and the Sharpshooters didn't have many suggestions other than one very good one, which was 'You should try talking to Kevin Howes, a big record collector and music writer up in Vancouver.'"

That's exactly what Sullivan did, and at his urging Howes managed to locate McGhie, who'd retired from the music industry. Wayne McGhie and the Sounds of Joy was rereleased to universal acclaim, and since then Light in the Attic has issued a further three CDs in its Jamaica to Toronto series, all compiled and annotated by Howes, with more to come.

Howes, who spins under the name DJ Sipreano, is becoming a recognized expert in Canadian musical history, and it all started with his chance discovery of Wishbone, a 1971 LP by the late Jamaican Canadian musical great Jackie Mittoo.

"That's also something we've rereleased in the Jamaica to Toronto series," Howes notes, calling from his Ontario home. "It's got an amazing picture of Jackie on the cover with a nice-sized Afro and these psychedelic swirling hands playing an organ in the background. I picked up the record and looked at it and went 'Holy shit, this has got to be good.' So I listened to it on the turntable and really fell in love with the grooves. That was the first one, and then I started finding more and more and getting deeper and deeper into it."

Howes and Sullivan have also resurrected singer Noel Ellis's self-titled debut, which, unlike the McGhie disc, is more pure reggae than rough-hewn American-style R&B with ska-flavoured horns and a rocksteady pulse. But the jewel in their catalogue is indisputably Jamaica to Toronto: Soul Funk & Reggae 1967–1974, which collects 16 tracks from a dozen different artists. In addition, they're working on an anthology of sides from Canada's first black-owned label, Summer Records, as well as Yard to Yonge, a documentary about Jamaican musicians in Canada. Their current project, though, is a cross-country tour featuring Jamaica to Toronto musicians Paul, Earle "The Mighty Pope" Heedram, and Jay Douglas.

"The thing is, these artists, they never got the support they deserved," says Howes. "They never got radio play, they never got media support, and they had to struggle just to pay the bills. And all we wanted to do, originally, was document their stories the best we could, preserve their records digitally, and present a nice package with archival materials. But this has turned into its own entity. It wasn't planned like this: it just sort of happened, and we're rolling with it."

So, too, are the musical veterans Howes has rediscovered. Heedram, for example, hadn't performed in years, and was initially reluctant to revisit his musical past. Now, though, the Otis Redding–inspired singer claims he's experiencing a creative rebirth. "Man, I'm just excited," he says in a telephone interview from Toronto. "Kevin was shopping around, trying to find me, and I really wasn't interested, but towards the end, I was just blown away by what they did–you know, with the finished product–and so I've been onboard since then.

"It's been an amazing year," he adds. "And now the juices are flowing again. I don't want to commit in a big way; I'd rather have a [new] record out or something. But it sure feels good."

Fellow vocalist Jay Douglas is similarly enthused. Not so much for himself–he's still a successful bandleader on the nightclub and wedding circuit–but by the overwhelmingly positive impact Jamaica to Toronto has had in Toronto's Caribbean community.

"What they've done, man, they've got the whole world looking at Canada's music, and especially us in Toronto," he says, also reached at home in Hogtown. "So many things have come out of it so far, like the Mighty Pope. He hasn't performed in a long time, but now he's back out and he's stronger than ever. It just shows that when the seeds are sown positively, the harvest will be great."

Douglas is particularly pleased that the project has helped reunite McGhie, now in poor health, with his estranged daughter. The royalties from the Light in the Attic recordings, which have worldwide distribution, haven't hurt, either.

"It was a struggle for these artists even to get into a recording studio," says Howes. "They had to pay for their own sessions, or they were swindled by shady record-company owners, so it's nice that they're finally getting some recognition after all these years."

Best of all, he adds, is getting to meet musicians he used to know only from dusty LP covers. "It's been an honour for me to work with these guys," says the affable archivist. "And at this point, I sort of have an extended Jamaican family, which is great!"

Jamaica to Toronto, featuring Earle "The Mighty Pope" Heedram, Jay Douglas, and Everton Pablo Paul, plays the Yale next Thursday (July 12) and the Vancouver Folk Music Festival main stage next Saturday (July 14).