such as cleaning or bar work, even people who have university degrees in law, engineering, etc. It's hard to break the stereotype sometimes. London is interested in us because we're those unknown, cool exotic people with the salsa and the rum, but when it comes to being taken seriously, we still have a long way to go. The ever-increasing restrictions on non-EU immigrants imposed by the UK Border Agency is really not helping, either. LAB: What is your impression of the Latin American music scene in London? Eliane: Existing, but limited. There is a very developed pan-Latin salsa/reguetn scene in London, but when it comes to live bands, it's a different story. First of all, there's the Buena Vista Social Club obsession -- everyone loves a bit of Buena Vista on a Friday night -- but a lot of people don't seem to realise that this is music from fifty, sixty years ago and that there have been plenty of really interesting developments in Cuban music since: songo, Cuban funk and jazz, timba, Cuban hip-hop. Also, London's Latin musicians have really felt the crisis. There's not so much money in Latin gigs these days, meaning nobody has the time to really rehearse and put together full sets of original, fresh material. It's a shame - we could have a buzzing scene with incredible quality. It's not the musicians that are missing, there are some unbelievable Latin musicians here. It's the investment from organisers that we need most. I work mainly