But nothing prepared the rootsy singer for the devastation wrought by Hurricane Jeanne, which spawned floods that killed more than 2,000 people in her hometown of Gonaives.

"You feel uprooted, like there is nothing you can do," says Michel, 38. "It's the most terrible thing to be so far away and thinking that you could help if you were there."

Michel, who plays Joe's Pub tonight, releases her eighth CD, "Rasin Kreyol," later this week.

The popular singer says her heart is in Gonaives, where her immediate family survived the floods, but are still searching the chaotic town for a missing aunt and distant cousins.

"It's like a lost city," she says. "There are whole streets, neighborhoods just washed away. It's a place that's going to have to start brand new."

Since leaving Haiti as a teen-ager, Michel has returned regularly for visits. She makes it her mission to feature the rich culture of the island.

Her message of hope and unity cannot change decades of poverty, corruption and dictatorship, but, she insists, it can open people's minds to a better future.

"People must not harden their hearts," she says. "There is a future and there is hope."

In an age when hip hop and dance-hall reggae beats are swallowing the cultural roots of the Caribbean, the new CD is a tribute to the Haitian music of the past, with lush big-band arrangements, traditional songs and voodoo drumming.

"It's like your first love, your first kiss," she says. "It's the beauty, the music, the rhythms you knew. It takes you back to what you love about your country."

She is collecting money for flood victims during shows on her U.S. tour and plans a benefit concert in Haiti later this month. It's a drop in the bucket, but she wants people to know someone is trying to help.

"Living outside of your own country, you feel you have let your country down," she says. "You carry so much love and so many beautiful things about your country you want to put out into the world."