People are moving for different reasons: in the past to discover new places or to find new resources, or even to learn and study (I guess you know Goethe’s book about his trip in Italy). But reasons can’t be ever so nice: from the beginning of 19th century huge masses began to emigrate very far: United States, Australia, Brasil, Argentina and others too. Now moving is again not only a question of travelling, but a question of escaping to survive from difficolt living or political conditions.

So what about this persons, who are they, what is their culture, their values; what kind of food do they eat, what kind of music and these things can better their and our wellbeing? Culture is a tool to integrate immigrants? Well look at this photo I took during a night event of Buonvivere. Isnt’it a perfect answer?

L’Orkestra per Scutari alla festa organizzata da Casa del Cuculo

This very rich event started with a kind of world cafè in the municipality hall, where every one was sitting without knowing each other at round tables, eating of course ealthy food but also a very good wine. Music was the protagonist at the very beginning. I entered the hall thinking I was again somewhere in Bosnia, listening to Goran Bregovic music and I found out a colourful and happy band of about ten people from Albany but from Italy also, who gathered during a  workshop about balcaninc music. Here you can find the score of this weird caravan. Orkestra”> Spartiti per Scutari. To guide people reflections some important people who arrived as immigrant and then found their “baobab” in Italy: the director Dagmawi Yimer, the refugee Emmanuel Kouakouta, but also an italian writer Wu Ming 2 who wrote the history of an italian-somali actress of the 40’s. And it is really true that culture is integration: listening and talking and eating together creates a sense of neighborhood and the stranger is not a stranger anymore. The caravan who arrived in this wonderful little square in the center of Forlì found another surprising experience: the muslim women of Life Onlus had preparred a very rich buffet of typical muslim dishes.

The buffet of Life Onlus crowded: Batbut and Mahashish

Not to talk of the liters of green mint tea and arab coffee, drunk with those wonderful foods. The night was also a way of reflecting about the relationships between us and them, and consider these two groups as an “us” instead of tearing the two apart. Look at the papers that groups of people wrote and that are now the wall of understanding.

The wall of understanding