Caiphus Semenya will celebrate his 80th birthday with a star-studded concert on Saturday, which will trace his 50-plus years in the industry. Pictures: Cebile NtuliAge is no match for the iconic muso, who is working on his new album and on getting his arts academy off the ground
“I am simply tired of performing on stage. I just want to retire from performing,” he tells City Press. Proceeds from the concert will go to the arts academy that Semenya and his wife, legendary singer Letta Mbulu, founded late last year. Their National Academy of Africa’s Performing Arts is situated in Jabulani, Soweto.
He expresses his gratitude at reaching this ripe age, remarking that many of his talented peers, who started this music journey with him, have passed on. The softly spoken Semenya, who hails from Alexandra township, adds that recording just one song can be emotionally and physically draining – which explains why it is taking him so long to work on his latest album. It will be his 10th and is due out for release sometime next year.Semenya’s philosophy is simple: “If it doesn’t sound right to you, why should people buy it?”
When asked who he thinks is the next Caiphus Semenya, he pauses, then says: “We all have different gifts, but Ringo Madlingozi doesn’t try to be anyone but himself. He is proud of his roots and where he comes from in the Eastern Cape.Recalling how hard it was in the 1960s to follow his dream to make music, Semenya says that when he was 15 years old, the apartheid regime unleashed its plan to “miseducate and to reduce us as black people to nothing because they didn’t want us to chase our dreams”.
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