Affectionately known to her fans as ‘Ernie’, Ernestine Deane gained huge popularity in South Africa as lead vocalist for live hip-hop supergroup, Moodphase5ive.
Having released two albums with the band, Steady On and in Superdeluxe Mode, she independently released her debut solo album, Dub for Mama in April 2007.Dub for Mama is a musical masterpiece that features stellar performances by Brian de Goede on drums, Buddy Wells on sax and flute, Brydon Bolton on double Bass, Tim Parr, Jamie Jupiter, Zane Carim and Neo Muyanga on guitar, Riccardo Moretti on Fender Rhodes and Mike Rennie on violin as well as dubmaster Fanus Tofte on bass.
Moodphase5ive drummer, Brian de Goede, produced the album with guest production by Craig Damster, Ben Amato and Riccardo Moretti.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 conscience-less music.Already Dub for Mama has made ‘album of the week’ on Germany’s largest online radio station, wom.fm and the opening tracks, Think Again and Prayer for Cape Town have both been licensed by NOKIA LONDON for the N91 mobile phone.More on Ernestine Deane: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’ Cosmopolitan 2004- Cosmo Rocks Music supplement.
Ernestine’s lyrics cut to the bone. The combination of her honest song writing skills and unforgettable melodies that earns 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.Her stunning talent and gorgeous face has been featured in magazines far and wide from the S.A. Elle and Cosmopolitan to the Dutch, de OOR and French Jalouse.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 grace 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, Jimmy 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 performed at 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 and DSTV a few times. Brown will also appear at the MOFFOM (Music on Film, Film on Music) Festival.
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 presents the 'Brown Workshops' to high schools, teenage pregnancy homes and prisons.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 Media’, together with her husband, Brian de Goede. Konshus Pilot deals in conscious content and storytelling in the media of music and film, making it accessible beyond standard distribution networks. The films and music are used as multimedia tools in the community workshops.She spreads her wings as filmmaker this year, producing and directing the musical documentary 'Afrikan Son', a film about her mentor and late godfather, Ernest ‘Ernie’ Pietersen, a Rasta musician, father figure and role model to many in his community after the Group Areas Act evictions.Ernestine resides in Muizenberg, Cape Town with her husband and sons.DUB FOR MAMA AVAILABLE ONLINE www.rhythmrecords.co.za
MUSIC STORES or directly from KONSHUS PILOT RECORDS see www.myspace.com/konshuspilotDub for Mama released by Konshus Pilot Records, distributed by Konshus Pilot and Rhythm Records - www.rhythmrecords.co.za
Bookings:
[email protected] / www.myspace.com/ernestinedeane
