Want to help Haiti? NPR has a good blog post here with some suggestions of what you can do.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqP0s9MBuoo[/youtube]

Yesterday, Tuesday January 12, a 7.0 earthquake struck just outside Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. Although it’s too soon to know the extent of the damage, the initial reports look devastating.

This disaster seems to hit home particularly hard in New Orleans, not only because of Katrina, but also because our two traditional cultures share so much in common. In this video, the Haitian drum ensemble Rara Lakay performs “Vodou Lakay”, combining two of oru shared influences of carnival and voodoo religion.

For further listening on the connections between the music of New Orleans and Haiti, we highly recommend Los Hombres Calientes, Vol. 4: Vodou Dance, which features a number of Haitian-influenced tracks and was partially recorded in Haiti. You can download an mp3 version here.

Please visit the link above the video for information on how to help. Do you know of a particularly good organization giving aid to Haiti? An organization that provides help to Haiti’s music, arts, or cultural communities? Please make recommendations in the comments below.