Ernestine Deane
Vocals
Ernestine is a singer songwriter, voice artist, poet, actor, writer ,producer, activist and film maker. She grew up on the Cape Flats in Grassy Park, Cape Town and started singing professionally with pioneering Hip Hop legends, Black Noise, at the age of 15. Later she found a home with Moodphase5ive who rose to the top of the SA music scene between the late 90s and early 2000s. She released her debut solo album, Dub for Mama, in 2008. She has toured abroad extensively and has worked with the biggest names in South African music. She has written the scripts and soundtracks for a number of award-winning films and documentaries, like ‘Brown’, a collaboration with filmmaker Kali van der Merwe, which premiered at the 2004 Encounters documentary festival and garnered prestigious film awards at the 2005 Milano Film Festival in Italy (Best Afro/Asian/Latin category), the annual Durban Film Festival and the Apollo Film Festival as Best African/South African Documentary. The film has traveled to international film festivals in Zanzibar, Switzerland, Italy, Czech Republic, and Australia. Ernestine has also collaborated with the Red Bull DJ Academy, working with amongst others, London dubstep producer, Ben Zinc, South Africa's Black Coffee, multi-talented L.A. trumpeter/vocalist, Aloe Blacc, as well as Parisian pianist/producer, Wally Badarou and French reggae band City Kay. Ernestine presents her film screenings and workshops at various schools and community or social platforms. She has represented South African musicians in parliament in their plea for regulation and protection within the South African music industry- and is co-founder of the trade union for South African musicians, TUMSA.