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Ray Phiri
Photograph via Wikimedia Commons
Music Landmark

Ray Phiri

1947 – 2017

Founded Stimela, and played the Graceland tour

Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the South Africa Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.

Why they are here

He led Stimela through the apartheid years and then took South African guitar onto the Graceland tour, where the rest of the world heard it.

Raymond Chikapa Enock Phiri was born in Mpumalanga on 23 March 1947 and worked in jazz, fusion and mbaqanga as a guitarist, vocalist and songwriter.

He founded the band Stimela, one of the most important South African groups of its era, and became internationally known playing on Paul Simon's Graceland tour. He won many awards at home, and died on 12 July 2017.
Sources

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