Tribute to Putumayo Founder Dan Storper

The World Music Pioneer died May 22.

Dan Storper, the founder of the Putumayo shops and label, has died. He passed away at his home in New Orleans, yesterday, May 22. There’s some more information on the Offbeat Magazine web site.

I remember walking into the small Putumayo store on Spring Street when I was studying at New York University. SOHO was of course a very different place then, and the store, with its patterned vests and gauzy dresses and other “ethnic clothing,” as people called it then, and its curated offering of handicrafts, was unique. I guess I thought of it as a “hippie” place then, I wanted to think of myself as more of a Trash and Vaudeville black jeans girl at the time (I tried). But just maybe it got me thinking about going to South America for the first time, which I soon did. That was in the eighties, around the time that the phrase “world music” was coming into vogue as a marketing term.

Storper started the label in 1993, after he had seen the enthusiatic response to the CDs of international traditional music sold at the store.

“I look back with a certain measure of pride at the fact that we’ve really introduced so many people to music that they were not familiar with — whether it be Latin, African, Caribbean, European, and more,” Storper told Billboard Español in 2023, when the label released its first digital compilation in time for its 30th anniversary.

I was one of those people. Putumayo brought me artists like the Congolese singer Ricardo Lemvo, whose album Mambo Yo Yo is still a favorite, and led me to further explorations into African salsa.

The Putumayo compilations comprised what we would now be called “discovery playlists” for general audiences. The label’s discography, which grew to more than 200 physical albums - on CD - reliably made for good dinner party music.

And of course, when listeners became more aware of global sounds, and more so when the streaming services came in, the Putumayo story could have ended. But it didn’t. The label has continued to produce compilations, and release the old ones digitally.

In fact today, May 23, There’s a new compilation out called Latin American Women (one of many others featuring Latin American women artists.) It’s a nice one. I’m listening to it now in honor of Dan Storper. Maybe you’ll join me.

To listen to more Putumayo albums, go to the label’s Youtube page.

And to get an idea of Dan and Putumayo’s impact on popular culture at the time of the brand’s height, here’s the Seinfield episode in which Elaine and Kramer create havoc in the Putumayo store.

Rest in peace Dan. I’ll be listening to your legacy.