The first to rally to Haiti's cause was rapper, producer and former Fugee Wyclef Jean. Wyclef was on the phone speaking to a friend in Haiti when the first tremors of the magnitude 7.0 quake hit the country of his birth on 12 January. The hip-hop star reacted immediately, posting emergency appeals on MySpace, Twitter and the website of his charity, the Yéle Haiti Foundation, urging the international community to "help Haiti now!" Wyclef mobilized members of the 4-million strong Haitian diaspora and alerted public opinion to the scale of Haiti's "human disaster" via the Internet and American news channels such as CNN. As humanitarian aid and rescue workers began to reach Haiti, Wyclef's campaign encouraged other music celebrities around the world to launch their own fund-raising efforts.

Haitian singer-songwriter Bélo was on tour in Guadeloupe when he heard the news that his homeland had been devastated by its worst earthquake in two centuries. The winner of RFI's "Prix Découvertes" 2006 was so horrified by the scale of the disaster in Port-au-Prince that he decided to turn his concert in Basse-Terre on 16 January into a support gig. Joined on stage by a host of Guadeloupe's top musicians including Dominik Coco, Dory, Missié Sadik and Willy Salzedo, Bélo kicked off proceedings with Mizik a Jah, a heartfelt tribute to his native isle, then stirred the crowd with Ayiti Lévè and an emotional rendition of Haiti's national anthem.

On 20 January, Guadeloupe's sister island Martinique added its support to earthquake relief efforts. Volunteers organised a collection of non-perishable foodstuffs in the gardens of the RFO TV station in Clairière Fort-de-France and that night at 8pm local time RFO and Radio and Télé Martinique broadcast a live fund-raising concert featuring stars turns by the likes of Bélo, Jocelyne Béroard, Victor O, Eric Virgal and Sael.

In Paris, the urban music channel Trace TV launched its own fund-raising initiative bringing together 80 French and French-speaking singers and TV personalities to record a charity single. Working under the artistic direction of rap star Passi and Jacky and Ben J from Les Nèg Marrons, the celebrity line-up - which included Charles Aznavour, Zazie, slam poet Grand Corps Malade, Manu Dibango, Féfé, Youssou N’Dour, Fally Ipupa, Singuila, Princess Erika and Kaysha - recorded Un geste pour Haïti chérie at Studio Haxo, in Paris. In the accompanying video, to be widely distributed to French TV stations, participants appeal to viewers to donate to quake relief. Meanwhile, all benefits from the single are to be donated to the French Red Cross.

Pascal Nègre, head of Universal Music, has also rallied to the cause in France, masterminding a fund-raising compilation entitled Urgence Haiti (scheduled for release on 29 January.) Twenty major French-speaking music stars from the label including Vanessa Paradis, Belgian 'chanteuse' Maurane, Calogero, M, Féfé and Eddy Mitchell gave their services for free and benefits from the album will be donated to the humanitarian organisation Action contre la Faim, renowned for their work in Haiti before the quake crisis.

Meanwhile, the live circuit in Paris has been a-buzz with a host of Haiti benefit gigs, one of the most prominent of which was Saturday night's fund-raising extravaganza at Le Réservoir for the medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières. Amel Bent, Les Nubians, Princess Erika and Alibi Montana all put in guest appearances. 

On Sunday 24 January, French cultural magazine Les Inrockuptibles, in collaboration with stand-up comic Jamel Debbouze and the French TV show Groland, organised Un dimanche pour Haiti (A Sunday for Haiti) at another major Parisian venue, Le Bataclan. Leading French rap stars including IAM, Diam's and Kery James joined forces with Benjamin Biolay, Olivia Ruiz, Louis Bertignac, Tiken Jah Fakoly and zouk supergroup Kassav for two separate concerts at 4pm and 8pm. Benefits were donated to Action contre la Faim.

That very same night a mega free concert, "Pour Haïti", was staged at Le Zénith de Paris (co-produced by Electron Libre, a subsidiary of Lagardère Entertainment.)

The concert, broadcast live on France 2, France Inter, TV5 Monde and across the RFO network, featured performances by chart-topping French pop stars including Pascal Obispo, Patrick Bruel, Calogero, Francis Cabrel, Renan Luce, De Palmas and Amel Bent.

Meanwhile, Africa has also rallied to raise money for quake-stricken Haiti. The Senegalese singer Coumba Gawlo Seck, who has been "very deeply affected by the tragedy that struck our brothers in Haiti", has urged fellow musicians to join her in the studio to record a benefit single written by Lokua Kanza. The single, to be recorded in Senegal in the next couple of days, is to be followed by a mega fund-raising concert in Dakar in February. Alpha Blondy, Sékouba Bambino, Papa Wemba, Wasis Diop, Omar Pène, Baaba Maal and the Malian diva Oumou Sangaré have already signed up to appear. According to Coumba Gawlo Seck's manager, the singer's initiative "has already received spontaneous and enthusiastic support from Africa's leading music stars."