Living Is Hard: West African Music in Britain, 1927-1929

by Various Artists

4 stars out of 5 -- "Most are a cappella call-and-response chants, sung, rather casually, in Wolof and Yoruba....All are utterly fascinating."
"[C]ompletely authentic roots folk, a beautifully preserved snapshot of West African music as it had existed for thousands of years.....Here you can hear the roots of highlife and the myriad of other West African styles, even catch tinges of Caribbean musics to come."
Global Rhythm (Publication) (p.50) - "LIVING IS HARD features some folkloric performances that happened around the same time as those of some of the early American blues artists, and prefigured such African genres as high-life, revelations that will undoubtedly make this one of the most notable compilations of the year."