WARA: HAVANA MUSIC MEETS LONDON VIA THE REST OF THE WORLD Published on: Mon Aug 20, 2012 Author: Tian Spain Source: LAB Eliane Correa talks to LAB's Tian Spain about Wara, a Cuban-Latin-London group whose members are an awe-inspiring mixture of Spanish, British, Cuban, Argentinian, Chilean and African nations. Yet it's hard for them to break down the stereo-type images of salsa and rum and project not only the varieties and diversity of their music, but the realities confronting immigrants. "There's so much heartbreak, nostalgia, broken families and disappointments in migration," they say: and they try to reflect this in their lyrics. LAB: How did the group form and where are you all from? Eliane: I'd been wanting to do something with my songs for a while when, at the end of 2009, I said to some of my music classmates at the School of Oriental and African Studies, 'Hey guys, let's start a band'. None of my material was anywhere near finished at the time, and I just wrote out 'Pretty Clich' on the bus on my way to the first rehearsal so that we had something to do! Callum from Movimientos saw us at one of our first gigs at SOAS and offered us a gig at Notting Hill Arts Club, then Glastonbury Festival, and it's just been gigs and more gigs since. Movimientos has really helped us out a lot. There have been changes in band members over time, and the line-up is now pretty crazy -