Strumpf dedicated his life to music education in Africa and spent the last 50 years of his life there
Mitchel Strumpf, a Sachem graduate from the Class of 1961, was an American music educator based in Tanzania. He died on January 13.
Before setting sail to Zanzibar, he worked for eight years as a music professor in the University of Dar es Salaam. Born to German parents, he decided to spend his life in Africa, according to his bio on the Music in Africa website.
The clarinet player, who considered himself a “conservative extremist”, left the U.S. when he was 20 and stayed in different countries all over Africa for more than 50 years.
In 1985, Strumpf began his tenure as director of the Malawi Choral Workshop where he worked until 1996. Strumpf also held the position of coordinator of the ethnomusicology symposium at the University of Dar es Salaam from 2007 until 2013.
Strumpf dedicated most of his life and expertise to the development of music in Africa. He played a central role in the establishment of music programs at African universities in countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
Rather than sitting down and listening to a recording, he preferred to watch and listen to music as a human expression, his bio reads.
Before his death he was the academic director of the Dhow Countries Music Academy in Zanzibar where his academic pursuits included the development of methods and materials for teaching African music traditions in schools, and African music history.