Caiphus Semenya

Having left South Africa through self-imposed exile during the 1960s, Caiphus Semenya developed a lasting profile as a musical director and composer. In tandem with his wife, the vocalist Letta Mbulu, he partnered with numerous other African musicians who had departed or partly withdrawn from their homeland, among them Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba.

After settling in Los Angeles, Semenya lent his skills to a wide spectrum of jazz and pop performers that included Lou Rawls, Nina Simone and Cannonball Adderley, his command of both jazz and African idioms proving especially useful. The Los Angeles years also produced an enduring alliance with Quincy Jones, through which Semenya supplied African material for the scores of Roots, covering both installments, and Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of The Color Purple. He later contributed to the soundtrack of Disney’s The Lion King. Since returning to South Africa in 1990, he has written the music for three South Africa Broadcasting Corporation series—Molo Fish, Vicious Circle and Gaba Mootho—and continues to operate across America, Europe and Africa in varied capacities, among them performances with Letta Mbulu under the name Caiphus & Letta. He further serves as executive producer for Quincy Jones’ Qradio website and contributes a regular column to the platform.