DESCRIPTION:
Frisner Augustin and his Vodou ensemble play for a dance at Kay Nelly, May 20, 1989. Nelly, a manbo (priestess), used the basement of the East Flatbush building in which she rented an apartment to hold Vodou dances.

The dance documented in this video satisfied two aims: to marry a man to Èzili Freda Dawomen and to Èzili Dantò, both powerful spirits in the Vodou Rada and Petwo nations, respectively; and to celebrate the Djouba nation, associated with the earth and farmers, and served in May. In the video the spirits take possession of Manbo Germaine (in pink) and Jocelyne Louis (in red) for the successive marriages. Once possessed, each is escorted from the ritual space to dress for her marriage, and led back in for the wedding. Later, initiates honor the Djouba nation with offerings of the earth's bounty carried on the head in baskets, as people do in Haiti.

Drummers include Frisner Augustin, Steve Deats, Luc Richard, Jean Robert Morisseau, Jean Paul Joseph, and Anthony Cyprien. Note the tightly enclosed basement space that was common—and still is—in Vodou temples in New York. And note the presence of children. Nelly, who passed away several years ago, was matriarch to a large multigenerational family, many of its members appearing in this document.

This video belongs to La Troupe Makandal's Frisner Augustin Memorial Archive, soon to go online.

Video shot and edited by Lois Wilcken