Soon after his emigration to New York City in 1972, Augustin re-connected with childhood friend Oungan Emmanuel Cadet, who had established a Vodou society in the Bronx.
In October 1973 Cadet performed a spiritual marriage between Augustin and Èzili Freda Dawomen, a Vodou spirit with roots in West Africa who represents romantic love.
Such a marriage, according to Vodou practitioners, brings prosperity to the human partner in exchange for special devotion.
Augustin would also go on to a real-life marriage with one of Cadet's initiates, who helped him secure his permanent residency in the United States in 1977.
As he became Cadet's lead drummer, word of mouth helped him to find work in other Vodou societies taking root throughout New York City.

Dancers and choreographers who had played with companies in Port-au-Prince since the 1940s were leaving Haiti during the 1960s and '70s and re-forming in New York.
Augustin found work drumming for Jean-Léon Destiné, Louinès Louinis, Troupe Shango of Arnold Elie, and the Ibo Dancers of Paulette St. Lot; however, throughout the 1970s, he aspired to leadership of his own group even though dancers typically led folklore companies.
In 1981 La Troupe Makandal, a company established in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Upper Belair and named after the eighteenth-century revolutionary and messiah François Makandal, arrived in New York and sought Augustin out for help in establishing itself in the diaspora.
He took the group under his wing and introduced it to the Haitian community in a Thanksgiving festival at Brooklyn College.
The company immediately and thereafter distinguished itself for its raw authenticity and bold presentation of the sacred gesture.
Together with his drumming student, musicologist Lois Wilcken, Augustin established the company as a not-for-profit organization incorporated in New York State.

Directing his own company gave Augustin the opportunity to develop a singularly powerful style of Vodou drumming and to train an ensemble in his own manner.
He and the company soon attracted the attention of entrepreneurs, particularly with staged representations of Vodou rites that balanced the mystical with a mission to re-educate the public about Vodou and Haiti itself.
Augustin carried this mission forward from the 1980s on, both in performances on YouTube and in workshops on YouTube, residencies on YouTube, and lecture-demonstrations on YouTube.
He took Makandal across the United States and abroad; venues included Lincoln Center, the American Museum of Natural History, New York's Town Hall, the Festival International de Louisiane, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the 1995 Bouyon Rasin Festival in Port-au-Prince, Banlieues Bleues in France, and the Tokyo Summer Festival.
Throughout his performing and teaching career, he continued to drum for Vodou houses both in and out of New York.
In his own analysis, he placed greatest value on drumming directly for the spirits in a consecrated space.

Recognition arrived in 1998 when the cultural center City Lore inducted Augustin into its People's Hall of Fame.
Filmmaker Jonathan Demme, whose film Beloved included Makandal on its soundtrack, presented the award and dubbed Augustin "the Arnold Schwarzenegger of transcendental music".
One year later the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded him its National Heritage Fellowship, the highest honor the United States confers in folk and traditional arts.
He was the first Haitian artist to earn this distinction.
A Certificate of Achievement from the National Coalition for Haitian Rights followed on the heels of the NEA award; Tonèl Lakay, a children's troupe, gave him a plaque of honor; and in 2011 dancer/choreographer Peniel Guerrier paid tribute to Augustin with his annual Kriye Bòdè award.
Augustin's company, La Troupe Makandal, has received awards from New York's Caribbean Cultural Center and from the Haitian Studies Association.
Soon after his emigration to New York City in 1972, Augustin re-connected with childhood friend Oungan Emmanuel Cadet, who had established a Vodou society in the Bronx. In October 1973 Cadet performed a spiritual marriage between Augustin and Èzili Freda Dawomen, a Vodou spirit with roots in West Africa who represents romantic love. Such a marriage, according to Vodou practitioners, brings prosperity to the human partner in exchange for special devotion. Augustin would also go on to a real-life marriage with one of Cadet's initiates, who helped him secure his permanent residency in the United States in 1977. As he became Cadet's lead drummer, word of mouth helped him to find work in other Vodou societies taking root throughout New York City.
Dancers and choreographers who had played with companies in Port-au-Prince since the 1940s were leaving Haiti during the 1960s and '70s and re-forming in New York. Augustin found work drumming for Jean-Léon Destiné, Louinès Louinis, Troupe Shango of Arnold Elie, and the Ibo Dancers of Paulette St. Lot; however, throughout the 1970s, he aspired to leadership of his own group even though dancers typically led folklore companies. In 1981 La Troupe Makandal, a company established in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Upper Belair and named after the eighteenth-century revolutionary and messiah François Makandal, arrived in New York and sought Augustin out for help in establishing itself in the diaspora. He took the group under his wing and introduced it to the Haitian community in a Thanksgiving festival at Brooklyn College. The company immediately and thereafter distinguished itself for its raw authenticity and bold presentation of the sacred gesture. Together with his drumming student, musicologist Lois Wilcken, Augustin established the company as a not-for-profit organization incorporated in New York State.
Directing his own company gave Augustin the opportunity to develop a singularly powerful style of Vodou drumming and to train an ensemble in his own manner. He and the company soon attracted the attention of entrepreneurs, particularly with staged representations of Vodou rites that balanced the mystical with a mission to re-educate the public about Vodou and Haiti itself. Augustin carried this mission forward from the 1980s on, both in performances on YouTube and in workshops on YouTube, residencies on YouTube, and lecture-demonstrations on YouTube. He took Makandal across the United States and abroad; venues included Lincoln Center, the American Museum of Natural History, New York's Town Hall, the Festival International de Louisiane, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the 1995 Bouyon Rasin Festival in Port-au-Prince, Banlieues Bleues in France, and the Tokyo Summer Festival. Throughout his performing and teaching career, he continued to drum for Vodou houses both in and out of New York. In his own analysis, he placed greatest value on drumming directly for the spirits in a consecrated space.
Recognition arrived in 1998 when the cultural center City Lore inducted Augustin into its People's Hall of Fame. Filmmaker Jonathan Demme, whose film Beloved included Makandal on its soundtrack, presented the award and dubbed Augustin "the Arnold Schwarzenegger of transcendental music". One year later the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded him its National Heritage Fellowship, the highest honor the United States confers in folk and traditional arts. He was the first Haitian artist to earn this distinction. A Certificate of Achievement from the National Coalition for Haitian Rights followed on the heels of the NEA award; Tonèl Lakay, a children's troupe, gave him a plaque of honor; and in 2011 dancer/choreographer Peniel Guerrier paid tribute to Augustin with his annual Kriye Bòdè award. Augustin's company, La Troupe Makandal, has received awards from New York's Caribbean Cultural Center and from the Haitian Studies Association.
Frisner Augustin