Frisner Augustin was a major performer and composer of Haitian Vodou drumming, and the first and only citizen of Haiti to win a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in the United States, where he resided for forty years.
Augustin at a Vodou dance in Brooklyn, 1980s
Augustin (center, holding large drum) and his youth Mardi Gras band, Port-au-Prince, early 1960s
Filmmaker Jonathan Demme presents Augustin with City Lore's People's Hall of Fame Award, New York City, 1998.
Augustin (standing) soundchecking for his last performance at the Institut Français, Port-au-Prince, February 16, 2012
Andrew Charles Cyrille is an American avant-garde jazz drummer. Throughout his career, he has performed both as a leader and a sideman in the bands of Walt Dickerson and Cecil Taylor, among others. AllMusic biographer Chris Kelsey wrote: "Few free-jazz drummers play with a tenth of Cyrille's grace and authority. His energy is unflagging, his power absolute, tempered only by an ever-present sense of propriety."
photo by Shawn Brackbill
Andrew Cyrille