Caiphus semenya

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Caiphus Katse Semenya (born August 19, 1939 ) is a South African musician ( alto saxophone , vocals , keyboard , arrangement , composition ).

Live and act

Semenya worked as a musician from his youth. Since 1956 he has directed the jazz vocal quartet Katzenjammer Kids , named after the comic series of the same name . In 1959 he was part of the ensemble of the successful musical King Kong , with which he made a guest appearance in London in 1961. In 1964 he and his wife Letta Mbulu performed the musical Sponono on New York's Broadway . Due to the worsening political situation, he did not return to South Africa. Together with Jonas Gwangwa he wrote the musical Buwa , which he performed in the United States in 1965 (also in southern Africa in the 1980s). He became a member of the bands of Big Black and Hugh Masekela , for whom he wrote numerous compositions. His compositions have also been performed and recorded by Herb Alpert , Cannonball Adderley , Harry Belafonte , The Crusaders , Lou Rawls and Nina Simone . He also worked with Miriam Makeba and wrote the brass arrangements for her album A Promise . He worked with Quincy Jones on the soundtrack of The Color Purple , which was nominated for an Oscar ; he wrote music for Roots and Roots - The Next Generations and was involved in the composition of Back on the Block (which is on the Grammy- winning album of the same name , Back on the Block by Quincy Jones). He was also the producer of Jones' Qradio website. In the 1980s he also appeared internationally with Letta Mbulu as Caiphus & Letta . In 1987 he was a guest at the Montreux Jazz Festival .

In 1990 he was musical director of the Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa concert at Wembley Stadium in London . Only towards the end of apartheid in 1990 did he return to South Africa, where he continued to make a name for himself as a film composer ; he was also involved in the music for the cartoon The Lion King .

In 2009 he received the Silver Order of Ikhamanga together with Letta Mbulu .

Discographic notes

  • Women Got a Right to Be (1995)
  • The Very Best of Caiphus Semenya (1998)
  • Streams Today Rivers Tomorrow (1998)

literature

  • Max Mojapelo, Sello Galane, Chris Walton: Beyond Memory: Recording the History, Moments and Memories of South African Music . African Minds, Somerset West 2009, ISBN 978-1-920299-28-6 .
  • Hugh Masekela, D. Michael Cheers: Still Grazing. The Musical Journey of Hugh Masekela. Three Rivers Press, New York 2004, ISBN 1-400-08317-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ List of recipients of the award 2009 (English), accessed on November 27, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Semenya, caiphus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Semenya, Caiphus Katse
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African jazz musician and composer
DATE OF BIRTH August 19, 1939