Thanks to Haitian reggae artist Wanted, who recently contacted me from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, led me to his debut record project that motivated me to explore where the reggae scene was at worldwide. When I first listened to Wanted’s material, his natural vocal talent and musicianship made me want to grab my headphones and plug it into my lap top, as I re-played his single ‘Come Along’. After experiencing a handful of tracks, I called him back to see if he’d be interested in participating in OpenMusicWire.com, and what track he would like to offer as a free download to let music fans discover his talents. Wanted ended up choosing ‘Friday’, a party track that made a brother want to grab a drink of Caribbean rum for happy hour… before lunch!

On a more positive note, Wanted focuses strongly on humanitarian efforts, where he gives back to his community to help battle the fight of hungry children in his hometown of Jacmel, Haiti under the Jacmel Haiti American Children’s Assistance Foundation (JHACAF); an organization he co-founded in 2007. Wanted is also collaborating with other Haitian artists to write, record and perform a song about the issue of tree-cutting in Haiti, which is stripping the oxygen away from the independent nation. The song from what I hear will have a positive twist as that it’s tied into a program to help plant new trees for the Haitian people.