Jamaican dub poet RasTakura, in collaboration with singjay Influential, has released a single in commemoration of the 2010 Haitian earthquake.

It’s amongst the first dub poet releases on the tragedy which left over 200,000 dead in Haiti. The single entitled Haiti 2010, Give A Helping Hand, is available for “free download” and also for sale.

“Haiti has been hit by a major earthquake in January and thousands of our brothers and sisters has lost their lives and left many homeless in distress in the poverty infested country,” Takura told the Observer in a written response to Observer queries. “The singer Influential and (me) came together to make a contribution through their art form.”

Takura’s previous single Food War was well received by radio. However, he has two underground compilation CDs, Run-Away-Slaves and Dragon Slayers. He is a member of the known poet trio Royal African Soldiers which began in 2003 but is also a solo artiste who has performed on Reggae Sumfest 2003, Heineken Star Time 2003, Fiwi Sinting 2003-09 (Host Poets), Barbados National Heroes Circle , St Mary Mi Come From, and Rebel Salute among others.

Takura has also done opening performances for international Dub Poet Mutabaruka and also appeared with him at Caribbean Cross Road Conference held at UWI Mona in July 2008.