Ernestine 'Ernie' Deane
Affectionately known to her fans as ‘Ernie’, Ernestine Deane has gained huge popularity in South Africa as lead vocalist for live hip hop band, Moodphase5ive.
Having released two albums with the band, Steady On and in Superdeluxe Mode, she releases her debut solo album, dub for Mama in March 2007.
Ernie grew up on the Cape Flats in Grassy Park, Cape Town and started singing professionally with Hip Hop legends, Black Noise, at the tender age of 15.
A natural storyteller, her velvet voice sticks in your heart like a warm dart, the kind that lingers in your mind…and keeps you awake at night. Ernestine’s lyrics cut to the bone. It is the combination of her honest song writing skills and unforgettable melodies that earn her royalties off several international and local compilation albums, commercials, soundtracks, documentaries and film scores.
Her off beat version of ‘Amazing Grace’ receives regular radio play and in April 2001, ‘Uneek’ with (Moodphase5ive) held no.1 on the P4 Radio charts for three consecutive weeks.
A former drama student, she put her acting skills to work playing the mother of ‘Twist’ in the feature film ‘Boy called Twist’ in 2003, a Cape Town take on the Dickens classic by acclaimed director Tim Greene. Her voice and original music also graces the film score. The film was warmly received at the 2005 Cannes film festival.
Ernestine has collaborated and shared the stage with S.A. stars as diverse as poet Breyten Breytenbach, Arno Carstens, Blk Sonshine, Tamara Dey, Simphiwe Dana, Freshly Ground, Bongo Maffin and Neo Muyanga. She has supported international artists, African diva’s: Cesaria Evora, Khadja Nin; Manu Dibango, New York poets: Sarah Jones, Saul Wiliams, Jamaican dub poet: Muta Baruka , Reggae legend: Horace Andy; Ninja Tunes artists: Amon Tobin, Kid Koala, New York hip hop artists: Cucumber Slice, Mr. Len and Tsidi Ibrahim (daughter of Abdullah) aka mc What What, Talib Kweli, ‘Black Thought’ of the Roots, as well as Basement Jaxx, Mica Paris, Omar and Asian Dub Foundation from London. She has performed at the historic ‘Paradiso’ in Amsterdam, the famous nightclub that has hosted legends such as Bob Marley, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and James Brown.
Ernie has frequently toured the music festival circuit in Belgium, Holland, Germany and the Czech Republic, where she wrote the epic single ‘Praha Paradise’ on her first visit to Prague in 2001. The track continues to receive airplay on the famous European radio station, Radio One, and appears on her debut album. Some of the international festivals she has attended are the Haarlem Jazz Festival, Womad, Hove Live Festival, Pukkelpop, Westerpop, Global Connection, The Lowlands Festival and North Sea Jazz Festival.
During her first pregnancy in 2002, Ernestine was inspired to write an introspective account of her family’s history as landowners in the now affluent Cape Town wine land, Constantia, before they were forcibly removed by the Group Area’s Act instituted by the Apartheid government. This led to collaboration with filmmaker Kali van der Merwe of Otherwise-media to make the musical documentary ‘Brown’. Their combined efforts resulted in a heartwarming and sensitive tale of triumph over suffering as punctuated by Ernie’s lyrics and script. The documentary film has since garnered prestigious film awards at the 2005 Milano Film Festival in Italy, the annual Durban Film Festival and the Apollo Film Festival as Best African/South African Documentary. The film continues to travel the international film festival circuit (Zanzibar, Switzerland, Italy, Czech Republic, Australia) and has been broadcast on SABC a few times. What makes the film extra special is the fact that for once the protagonist is more than mere film subject. Ernestine Deane shares the copyright with Otherwise-media.
Ernestine hosts community workshops using the film ‘Brown’ as a tool to encourage men, women and youth to find their creative expression and explore their heritage as she does in the film, in an effort to better understand the origins of the challenges that face the so-called coloured community today. She rejects the apartheid given label ‘coloured’ and calls herself brown. The same-titled theme song, ‘Brown’ features on her album. Ernie plans to visit schools in the Western Cape in 2007 with the Brown Tour, further extending with her music and film, the themes explored in the community workshops.
Her most recent music collaboration is a production called ‘Womantide’, where she joins forces with two other phenomenal female artists, singer/songwriter, Tina Schouw and performance poet, Malika Ndlovu. In the show, the three women weave vocal magic through their poetry and music, in honour of the human spirit.
This dynamic young mother of two sons knows the value of intellectual property and copyright and owns her own publishing company, ‘Ernie’s Ink’, which represents her growing repertoire of songs. She has formed the company ‘Konshus Pilot’, together with her husband, Brian de Goede (Moodphase5ive drummer and featured producer on dub for Mama). Konshus Pilot deals in conscious content and storytelling in the media of music and film. She spreads her wings as filmmaker this year, producing and directing a film about her mentor and late uncle, Ernest ‘Ernie’ Pietersen, a musician, father figure and role model to many in his community.
Ernestine Deane’s album, dub for Mama, can only be described as a pioneering sound for South Africa. An infusion of dub, soul and jazz, the music provides a potent platform for an incredible vocal expression of stories inspired by her life as a young brown woman in post-apartheid South Africa.
In it Ernie explores the hardships and beauty of the country, paying respect to mothers of all kind: Cape Town- the Mother city, Africa- the Mother land, Mother Earth, Mother Nature, and nurturers of all things growing…this beautiful album is an ode to the human’s ability to triumph over adversity. It is indeed an offering of integrity unto an industry polluted with monotonous and consciousless music.
Ernestine resides in Muizenberg, Cape Town with her husband and sons. Dub for Mama released by Konshus Pilot Records, distributed by Konshus Pilot and Rhythm Records
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