“Arhoolie” is an African American word for a field holler, a worker’s message despatched from field to sky. It rises, hovers in the air, and is gone. But when, in 1960, Chris Strachwitz named his new company Arhoolie Records, he upended the word’s meaning: in recording these sounds from the borders of society, he was ensuring that they were captured for all time, fugitive no more.
Chris, who has died aged 91, was many things: promoter and publisher of what we now call roots music; record collector, retailer and distributor; amateur folklorist and film-maker. Above all, he was a fan. His enthusiasms were absolute, and he pursued them indefatigably, repeatedly visiting favourite communities to hear music he loved and valued, such as the Cajun and zydeco music of southern Louisiana and the corridos and conjunto music of the Texas–Mexican border.
