The mesaharati, who wakes people up before dawn so that they can have Sohour in preparation for another day of fasting, is perhaps the most defining Ramadan trade — and it is traditionally performed by men. In this Cairo alleyway, however, the person tapping a drum while walking around the neighbourhood, calling out to people they usually know by name, is not a man but a mesaharatiya whose voice probably gives the traditional call an entirely new flavour.