Mitchel Strumpf (1943–2018), from New York, was an ethnomusicologist, performer, writer, researcher, and music educator. He worked for eight years as a music professor at the University of Dar es Salaam and then later at the Dhow Countries Music Academy, in Zanzibar, Tanzania. His life work, spanning over 50 years, revolved around promoting music education and various music traditions of different communities on the African continent.