Putumayo’s Dan Storper Has Passed Away

Dan Storper, founder, creator and president of Putumayo World Music, has passed away. He died last week in his home surrounded by his family, after a battle with cancer. He was 74-years-old.

Storper started Putumayo as a namesake of his retail store that sold handcrafts and clothing from his many worldwide travels. He was a connoisseur and promoter of music from around the world and created hundreds of album compilations that focused on indigenous music, as well as other world sounds, blues, and so much more. The label was started in 1993, with Storper’s intention of exposing the public to talented musicians from many “third world” countries, along with exposure to their unique cultures. “We wanted people to look at the positive sides of these countries that were often depicted in the media negatively,” said Storper in a recent interview.

Dan Storper was one of my personal idols. I admired him because of his love of and interest in the music and cultures of people worldwide, and his intention to expose people to music and culture with which they might not be familiar. I met him not long after he started Putumayo World Music, when he was doing a “scouting trip” in New Orleans to find the music to develop a series of compilations from New Orleans and Louisiana musicians—which he did, many times over. This was a man after my own heart: he was determined to spread the cultural richness of music to the world (the same way I feel about New Orleans and Louisiana music). Once he visited NOLA, Storper eventually moved to the city in 2002 permanently.

This is a link to the last interview we did with Storper, in OffBeat‘s November 2022 issue. We are working on a tribute to him, and extend our sincerest condolences to his family.