Picnic, Music, and a Children’s Workshop at Tapadum

Not every Sunday at Tapadum involves a concert stage. May 15 was something different — an open afternoon in the garden for families, with music for the adults and a creative workshop for the children.

Everyone was welcome. Bring your own food.

The Day’s Program

Doors opened at 14:00. From 15:00 to 19:00, music and jam session ran continuously in the garden — open format, anyone with an instrument welcome to join. Entry for the picnic and jam session was free.

For children aged 6 to 13, a parallel workshop ran from 15:00: a free-contribution session starting from €10, designed to give the youngest guests their own creative space while the adults played.

Fukuoka and the Seed Balls: A Workshop for Young Hands

The children’s workshop was guided by Patrizio and Margherita of Laboratori Imboschirsi, and it centred on a simple, beautiful idea drawn from the work of Japanese farmer and philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka.

The session began with a kamishibai — a Japanese illustrated storytelling format using a small wooden theatre — based on Fukuoka’s book The One-Straw Revolution, a foundational text of natural farming. The story was told, the pictures shown, and then the practical work began: making seed balls to throw into meadows and fields to spread wildflowers.

Seed balls are exactly what they sound like — small spheres of clay and compost packed with seeds, designed to protect them until rain and soil conditions allow them to germinate. Fukuoka developed the technique as part of his philosophy of working with nature rather than against it. In the hands of children between six and thirteen, the technique became something else too: a morning of getting hands dirty, learning where plants come from, and taking something home to throw into the nearest patch of grass.

A snack break midway through kept energy levels up.

Music and Socialità

The afternoon’s jam session ran alongside the workshop — a continuous, informal musical backdrop to the picnic. The format was the same as always at Tapadum: no setlist, no stage, no division between performer and participant. Bring an instrument, find a rhythm, join in.

The specific intention for the day was broader than music, however. The event was designed with socialità in mind — the Italian word that carries more weight than its English equivalent, implying not just socialising but the cultivation of a shared social fabric. A free afternoon in a garden, food on the grass, children making seed balls while adults played music: that is socialità in practice.

Tapadum hosts concerts, workshops, and open events throughout the year. Explore our handcrafted instrument collection or follow our upcoming events.

Özgür Yalçın is the founder of Tapadum and the founding member of Karagüneş. He has performed ethnic and world music across Europe for over twenty-five years and builds custom instruments from Tapadum’s workshop in Brisighella, Italy.