Caiphus Semenya, is one of South Africa's foremost musical directors and composers, with recent credits including the music scores for the SABC series "Molo Fish," "Vicious Circle," and "Gaba Mootho," as well as a lifetime of work as a performer and arranger of African music. Semenya left South Africa in the 1960's, together with his wife, singer Letta Mbulu. Whilst in exile, he worked with compatriots Hugh Masekela, Jonas Gwangwa, and Miriam Makeba amongst many others. He subsequently took up residence in Los Angeles, where his talent resulted in work with a top range of American artists and producers, and saw his compositions being performed by Cannonball Adderley, Harry Belafonte, The Crusaders, Lou Rawls, and Nina Simone, amongst others. Most notable have been Semenya's regular collaborations with Quincy Jones. The association has seen Semenya composing all the African music for Alex Hayley's "Roots" Parts 1 & 2, and also the African music for the Steven Spielberg-directed THE COLOR PURPLE (1985). Semenya's work for THE COLOR PURPLE earned him an Oscar® nomination. Semenya has composition credits for several tracks on Quincy Jones' album "Back on the Block", including the melody for the title track, which received a Grammy® Award as album of the year in 1995. As a performing artist and big band arranger, Semenya toured Africa with the production BUWA during the 1980s. He is probably best known to the home audience through the performances of "Caiphus & Letta", and hit songs such as "Angelina" and "Matswale". In 1989, he was the musical director for the South African component of the Wembley Stadium "Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa" concert. He returned from exile in 1990, and in 1991 headlined the Unity concert at FNB Stadium. The 1990s saw Semenya working both in sides of the Atlantic, whilst he and his family relocated to Johannesburg. Celebrated performances included the Africa Night at Montreux Jazz Festival, a sold out series at Sun City, and numerous open air concerts - often together with his wife Letta Mbulu. Semenya released another album during 1995 - "Woman's Got a Right To Be".  Nominated for Music Scoring Awards (Best Original Score) 1985: THE COLOR PURPLE (w. Quincy Jones, Jeremy Lubbock, Rod Temperton, Andrae Crouch, Chris Boardman, Jorge Calandrelli, Joel Rosenbaum, Fred Steiner, Jack Hayes, Jerry Hey & Randy Kerber) 1 nomination