Caiphus Semenya

Thabo Caiphus Katse Semenya (born 19 August 1939) is a South African composer, arranger and musician. He was born in Alexandra, Johannesburg.

Semenya left South Africa in the 1960s and lived for many years in the United States, firstly with the musical Sponono and then settling in Los Angeles with his wife, singer Letta Mbulu.

Versatile musical director and arranger, Semenya has worked with a wide range of South African and international artists, including Hugh Masekela, Jonas Gwangwa, Miriam Makeba, Lou Rawls, Nina Simone and Cannonball Adderley. He also contributed to high-profile US projects, notably collaborating with Quincy Jones on the Roots miniseries soundtrack.

Semenya is among the arrangers who contributed to the music for Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film The Color Purple; the soundtrack was nominated for the Academy Award For Best Original Score at the 58th Academy Awards (1986), with Semenya listed along several other arrangers and composers on the official nominees list.

He is also widely credited with arranging the Swahili chant that appears in the intro to Michael Jackson’s song “Liberian Girl” (on the 1987 Bad album).

In 2015, Semenya was awarded with the ACT Lifetime Achievement Award for Music in recognition of his lifetime contribution to South African music. Both Semenya and Letta Mbulu have been recognised time and again in South African cultural awards and retrospectives.

Selected discography (titles in italics as per your style sheet): Listen to the Wind (CBS, 1982); Streams Today... Rivers Tomorrow (Munjale, 1984); The Very Best of Caiphus Semenya (Columbia, 1996). He also appears on Quincy Jones’s Roots (A&M, 1977).

Photo: Gallo Music Publishers