Jacqueline Smith: Hearts open for Haiti

There's nothing like a tragedy to cement the power of celebrity.

Haiti's earthquake on January 12 has been named one of the biggest disasters of the decade, and the United Nations says it has lost more staff in this relief mission than any other.

But memories of the shocking 200,000 death-toll and gut-wrenching images from the front line, may not stick as well will as a clip of little Taylor Swift strumming an acoustic guitar, singing Breathless.

Some people in the world don't watch the news or read the papers, but they do tune into MTV and E channel.

Which is why Fantastic Mr George Clooney and MTV launched plans for the Live Aid-style televised concert just two days after the quake hit. More than 100 stars were rustled up for the telethon 10 days later.

There were performances by Wyclef Jean (which meant he was missing from the Ragamuffin line-up in Rotorua) Bruce Springsteen, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Sting, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, Bono, The Edge and Rihanna.

And, despite still recovering from the financial hangover of the silly season, viewers raised US$58 million ($81 million) for the victims of the earthquake.

But what seems to have had a more immediate impact than the cash, is the way superstar musicians helped people who live a very long way from Haiti understand the magnitude of the disaster. And hopefully the concert even prompted a few viewers to jump on Wikipedia to find out a bit about Haiti's people, history and, well, where on Earth it was.

Haiti is one of the top tracking topics on Twitter this week - up there with tweets about TV show Glee and teenage singer made-famous-through-YouTube Justin Bieber.

The 20-track Hope for Haiti Now album (featuring Send Me an Angel with Alicia Keys, We Shall Overcome sung by Bruce Springsteen, Motherless Child by John Legend and Hallelujah sung by Justin Timberlake and Charlie Sexton) was the biggest one-day album pre-order in iTunes history. At one point Stranded (Haiti Mon Amor), sung by Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z and Rihanna, was the top song in iTunes in 12 countries ... that's right, it knocked Susan Boyle's heart-warmer right back.

However, probably because I Dreamed a Dream is not appropriate to re-record in a more melodramatic tone, Boyle has announced she will sing a version of REM's Everybody Hurts , along with other grating celebrities, on Simon Cowell's Haiti charity record.

The line-up for the single so far includes Mika, Michael Buble, Cheryl Cole, Leona Lewis, Westlife, Alexandra Burke and Rod Stewart.

Meanwhile New Zealand musicians are also doing their bit to help out, but thankfully have a more classy take on fundraising. Following an auction of a piece of Pip Brown's Ladyhawke artwork, the Art Loves Haiti charity has put three prints of the latest Minuit cover on Trade Me. Singer Ruth Carr created the artwork by separating hundreds and thousands into colours with tweezers, then forming new colour variations to emphasise different parts of the world.

And this Sunday night, or Laneway Eve, Barny Duncan from the Hot Grits has organised a fundraising drumming night at the Montecristo Room. Figuring the Haitians have a culture stemmed in Voodoo, dance and drumming, he has rounded up a troop of Rarotongan drummers, Zoh Zoh, and drumming maestros like Julien Dyne and Chris O'Connor to play, topped-off by an African set by Nick D, accompanied by djembe players.

Let's hear it for Haiti.