By Ruha Devanesan | Executive Director
Last summer, we went to Port-au-Prince to run a project called PeaceTones Haiti Sings. After auditioning over sixty musicians, we chose 20 to be in an online competition, held a marketing and legal workshop for them and their families, and ran the contest last fall on Facebook. The contest was a great success in that we had several thousand votes, all twenty of the musicians, otherwise unknown, got global exposure. This Spring, we brought the winner of PeaceTones Haiti Sings, Wanito, to Boston to record his very first album, and we released his album on December 1st.
Wanito has gained a massive following in Haiti, and is considered to be the biggest up-and-coming musician in Haiti today! When Executive Director, Ruha Devanesan and Development Director, Adam Berkowitz returned from a trip a few weeks ago to Port-au-Prince, they confirmed this fact with video clips from the streets of Port-au-Prince and from Wanito's album release party. Wanito's name is ubiquitous in Port-au-Prince and, as he tours the rest of Haiti and hopefully returns to the US soon for a tour, his powerfully positive message of hope and empowerment for Haitians will impact thousands more.
Wanito represents the culmination of what we at PeaceTones have been working hard for these past few years. We want to produce more artists like him, who come from very resource-deprived backgrounds but have talent, a positive social message and the drive to lead social movements in their own communities through their music. We train and mentor these artists to help them succeed as best they can, because we understand the power of a strong social message through music and because we want these musicians to earn a fair income for themselves and their communities through their music.
We are so happy to see how far Wanito has come, and we want to thank you, the people who first funded Haiti Sings, for making all this possible!!
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