The travelling fishmonger - Ras Beirut 1997

During the last half of 1997 when we were living in Basra Street in the Hamra district of Ras Beirut, the travelling fishmonger was a regular part of the street (and sound) scene.

He would come up Rue Jeanne d'Arc on his moped at around 8 every morning. His "sales voice" was so strong it could be heard long before he came aound the corner into our local street which had a lot more residents than the main streets. The only real competition to his shouts extolling the quality of sardines and various other fish was the somewhat worn and insistent muffler of the two-stroke engine of his sales vehicle.

This short video has been optimized for sound, but the pictures also show the classic haggling over price in the transaction with our neighbor the flower seller across the street.

The travelling fishmonger
(4 min Realvideo 80kb/s stream)

- Børre Ludvigsen