The From mother to daughter dinner at Fuori Orario was GREAT. No one expected it: the venue was practically stormed, and it set a record: 250 people eating dinner! Franco and his crew had to set every table available and bar counters upstairs, too. Mondine were in top condition: they sang a lot while sitting at a dinner table, which is probably their favourite situation for delivering a song. But the nicest thing was to see the community gathering to celebrate them: there was Cisco with Giovanni, there was a delegation of Modena City Ramblers, there were Maurizio, Davide and Walter of Gruppo Padano di Piadena, there was Graziano “Monduja” Magagnoli with Luciano Gaetani for Paulem, there was Marco Mainini representing Bonifica Emiliana Veneta but also - together with “the two Fabio”, Bonvicini and Vetro - of the Emilian pipers orchestra Pive nel Sacco, there was the Casalecchio Partisans Association, there was La Grande Famiglia headed by Checco, there were Valeria and Freddy of the mondine’s blog, there were the kids of Correggio Mon Amour and Rock in Rolo, there were the lady major of Gattatico and Beniamino Grandi, Head of Culture in the Modena provincial administration, and both had come as private citizens. Roberta and I represented Fiamma Fumana. Everyone sang: musicians strummed guitars and pumped air into accordions and bagpipes. Everyone found it natural to sing folksongs, speak and sing in dialect, play traditional tunes.

This is weird, I thought. Twenty years ago I would travel to Ireland and really really long for precisely this: that they gathered in the pub to sing songs and play tunes that everyone knew, that belonged equally to grandparents and their grandchildren, and that grandparents and grandchildren could sing together; I was experiencing something that felt very similar, except that there were a lot more people eating a great deal better, and that it took place in Emilia Romagna, in my home. Young and old people recognizing themselves as characters in the same story, with mondine acting as a powerful living symbol of the joy and the courage of our people. A twenty year old dream, come true.

And it does not end here. Because the Fuori Orario has a captain, and this captain is Franco Bassi, a true visionary. And Franco - who was moved seeing the venue full not only with young people, but with old people as well, flocking to the ancient call of “singing at the eating table” - is a man to dream a new dream as soon as he fulfills an old one. And what he dreamed last night was: “the April 25th show at Museo Cervi must be like tonight, only a hundred times bigger. Let’s bring there seven thousand people to sing together.!”

Seven thousand people singing. Hmmm. There’s something there. Who wants to join us - and mondine?

To dinner! To dinner! In the best Italian and Emilian tradition, the table is “the” place to meet, renew old friendships and kickoff new projects. And so Fiamma Fumana, Mondine di Novi, Cisco, Giovanni Rubbiani, Davide Ferrario, Andrea Zambelli, Gruppo padano di Piadena, Le pive nel sacco, Correggio Mon Amour, Luciano Gaetani and many others will meet at Fuori Orario for a dinner of (first quality, home made) gnocco fritto (don’t try this at home), Parma ham and Lambrusco. We will talk about ourselves, our common roots: we FF and mondine have tried to communicate them abroad, and found out that the epic of this mall and unimportant corner of the world can be fascinating and emotion-laden for a Mexican or a Canadian. There’s no scheduled concert, but we all will bring instruments along, and we will certainly make some music (dinner with mondine? Try and keep them from singing!). The dinner costs 10 euro, the music is donated by whoever wants to. Bring your own instrument along!

On the From mother to daughter blog there is a post in which we keep a more detailed track of who is coming. Please visit it to see who has confirmed and let us know that your coming and if you are going to make some music with us. YESSS! DINNER WITH MONDINE!!!