Drummer, give me my sound: reflections on the life and legacy of Frisner Augustin

Yanvalou, a word meaning "praise" in the language of the Fon people of Benin, invokes the Rada liva, a spiritual nation brought to Haiti (and then to New York) from the region on the Gulf of Guinea, in particular, modern Benin and Togo. [...]I propose that these elements of Frisner's style derive to a significant degree from his love of jazz, beginning in Haiti with Lina Blanchet, Jacky Duroseau, and Jazz des Jeunes, and expanding across his work in the United States, Europe, and Latin America with Kip Hanrahan, Rara Machine, Edy Brisseaux, and, most recently, Haitian American Andrew Cyrille.