Mr. Salih hopes to document this carnival for future generations. He aims to revive interest in these traditional trades, giving performers much-deserved clout. He also wants to bring back the old booksellers, who used to set up shop around the foot of the nearby Koutoubiya Mosque during the Middle Ages. And he wants to establish a social security program for the aging halaqi. You can learn a lot from people - music, stories, magic.
People even come here to learn how to blow fire.
Young people come to learn trades - like acrobatics. Whiffs of goathead soup drift from mammoth steel pots. People carry bowls of braised snails, needling them from their shells with safety pins while swigging bottles of apple soda pop. Soumia Hassoune has lived in Marrakech her whole life. She hopes it is revived to its heyday.