Magical Musings: January 2006 - Resolving for the New Year…

Resolving for the New Year…

Over the last decade, I have always had a recurring thought: Why is it that we do not see much online activity by Indian magicians?

The immediate answer that offers itself is that Indian magicians are not Net savvy. But then, I know this is wrong, for most of the magicians I have come across are well educated, and quite tech-savvy. So the Internet would not be something that is not accessible to them.

The fact that most of us have an email id, and some a website, also points to a different answer; One not that obvious.

Over the years, many magicians have tried their hand at publishing a periodical – mostly in print, some being virtual. They have met the same fate: a generic lack of editorial support from the community.

We all seem to like to read, want to know what’s happening in everybody’s lives, learn new tricks, and presentations. None of us seems to want to contribute to the cause. And many a magazine and e-zine have vanished into dust due to this very reason.

Is this because most of us have learnt magic from each other or from magic dealers? Is the lack of a defined book-culture hitting back at us by contributing to a lack of literature?

Give it a thought. And resolve to change the world of Indian magic, this New Year!

Published in VNM: January 15, 2006

Magical Musings: December 2005 - Mesmerising Indian Magic

Mesmerising Indian Magic

Mazma – the street magician’s competition was a welcome change from the trade-of-the-mill magic conventions. Many traditional magic tricks, historically acknowledged to be India's contribution to the world of magic, were performed, mostly with devastating effect.

Legendary effects like Indian mango tree, open air levitation, Indian basket trick, took the center stage alongside the gory, and thereby scary, effects like knife through neck and decapitation of the tongue.

For me, the most amazing performance was without doubt the magic of 83 year old Samjunath Vadi from Gujarat. How he transforms a brick to a live slithering king cobra inside of a second, and in the heat of the moment, is nothing less than a miracle. He has to be simply the best magician in the world, one that David Copperfield would be proud to take lessons in misdirection from.

There is no one (nor do I think there will be anyone) worthy of conjuring up snakes and scorpions from thin air as he does. In my opinion it was an injustice to his greatness, and wizardry, that he was compared to the other performers.

This is not to take away anything from the prowess of the other performers. This is a solemn acknowledgement that Vadi is one of the very best performers in the field of magic -- one that could share the nuances of real misdirection with the masters of magic.

Of course, getting to know and exchange views on magic and mentalism, especially Indian magic, with Magician Ramana (Wouter Bijdendijk) from Holland was great fun, and saw the blossoming of what I hope will be a good friendship.

It was an honour for me to be associated with this historic event, even more so as a jury member, and I thank the Magic Academy for giving me this opportunity.

Published in VNM: December 15, 2005

Magical Musings: November 2005 - The First Psychic

The First Psychic

Dr Peter Lamont, the author of The Rise and Fall of the Indian Rope Trick, and co-author of Magic in Theory, has published his third and latest book: THE FIRST PSYCHIC: The Peculiar Mystery of a Notorious Victorian Wizard.

As the title suggests the eminent historian and magician traces the life and times of the "first psychic" Daniel Dunglas Home.

Judging by the reviews of the book in various publications, Peter seems to have come out with another good book on the history of the magical arts:

Philip Hoare in The Guardian writes in A talent for ectoplasm, “None the less, this is a well researched and illuminating book. To many, Home was just a Yankee conjuror; but Lamont's entertaining essay in human credibility shows that he was much more than that.”

Writing in The New Statesman (UK), Hilary Mantel writes “For all its levity - and laughter arises like - oh, like a piano - this is a serious and thought-provoking book about how we witness and interpret the world. My own uncanny powers forecast a feast called Christmas, not far distant, when The First Psychic should, if there is any justice, mysteriously levitate from bookshop shelves and appear in intelligent people's stockings.”

And if all that was not enough praise, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst in The Daily Telegraph says, “This is a clever book […] Entertaining enough to keep its readers wondering.”

While I am yet to read the book myself, knowing Peter and his earlier works, I am positive that this book would also be an interesting read for one interested in the magical arts, especially mentalism and psychic entertainment; For this book explains where it all started.

I just can’t wait to get myself a copy of what-sounds-to-be an extremely interesting book.

Published in VNM: November 15, 2005

Magical Musings: October 2005 - Thanks David. That was indeed Magical!

Thanks David. That was indeed Magical!

I apologise to those that missed my column last month. This musing comes to you from Germany, after a magical experience.

Let’s start with a chat I had with a magician friend:
Me: I am watching David Copperfield today
Friend: cd? which one?
Me: the one and only David Copperfield. Live in person. on stage
Friend: which site. web r tv ????????
Me: don't you understand...? I am watching him live, on stage, in person...
Friend: ???

And that's how incredulous it would sound if somebody had told me some months back that I would be watching David Copperfield live in action.

But dreams do come true. And it was such a dream that came true this October 10th, when I had the good fortune to watch David’s show.

The experience was, for want of better words, truly magical. Sitting there, I was equally dumbstruck and magnanimously entertained when a 1960s Lincoln Convertible appeared atop four pillars set on stage, with spectators standing right under it!

I was there clapping furiously when David magically transported an audience member to the sea coast of Jamaica in a jiffy! And of course, I was clapping feverishly when David vanished about a dozen spectators from the stage, who reappeared them back among the audience!

This was the first and only show of my life where the audience gave a standing ovation to a performer not once, but on two occasions! And if David had come back on stage after the “final bow,” one more time, I would have fallen to the floor exhausted from all that clapping.

All in all, like I said, it was a MAGICAL EXPERIENCE. I now look forward to the day when I meet and chat up with David Copperfield. Yeah, you may say, I am dreaming. I say, I have every right to!

Published in VNM: October 15, 2006

Magical Musings: Issue VI - Catching Zauber in Germany

Catching Zauber in Germany

I have just returned from a month-long visit to Germany – to be precise the historic town of Heidelberg. And as destiny would have it, I had the good fortune to meet a magical friend during my visit. That, and more, is what I write here.

Bill Palmer is better known as Merlin the Magician, having performed in that name and guise (persona?) at the Texas Renaissance Festival for 26 years before "retiring" from the Festival in 2000. Bill owns one of the world's largest collections of Cups and Balls (202 sets if I remember correctly!), and holds a PhD in Germanics from the World University of Advanced Studies.

Having known Bill over the Net, it was indeed a magical coincidence when Bill told me that he and his charming wife were visiting Heidelberg when I was there! And we (believing that there is no such thing as a coincidence) got together that wonderful evening and had a gala time talking and making magic (that was Bill!).

Bill had heard about a "bar magician" at a nearby pub “The Cornerstone,” and so off we went to catch a magic show. But that was after the lovely couple had treated me to dinner.

And then we came face-to-face with Stefan Ebinger, an adept close up entertainer who weaves magic with his fingers. Stefan began with a variation of the chop cup, what seems to be inspired by the evergreen "two in the hand, one in the pocket" effect.

No! Stefan does not use a chop cup. Instead, he makes do with a 10 Euro note rolled into a ball, and an ordinary cup. And entertains like few can! You are just about breathless when he produces a lemon, and a larger one to boot as the finale! Among the numerous entertaining effects that Stefan showed us, the signed ambitious card routine was memorable.

Before the evening came to an end (11:30 pm!), Bill convinced me that I should meet Christian Jedinat who runs the Zauber Shop (zauber is German for magic). And two days later I did.

Located on the main street in Sandhausen, the Zauber Shop is a treat to one and all by the sheer collection of the best of the best magic effects, books, and CDs. But then I would recommend one to visit this place just to meet Christian, who is a wonderful and knowledgeable host.

I look forward to my next trip to Germany when I can again catch up with Stefan and Christian, not to mention David Copperfield who is going to be in town during the same time! But more on that later…

Published in VNM: August 18, 2005

Magical Musings: Issue V - The Magic of Communication – Part 2

The Magic of Communication – Part 2

Continuing where I left off in the last article, we saw many good presentations by magicians and environmentalists at the Seminar; each act sought to communicate the importance of a clean, green environment. The only shortcoming, if any, was that most communicated verbally.

The need of the hour as they say is to find a medium that can communicate to one and all, irrespective of barriers of language, education, demographical and cultural differences. And Magic has the powers to play this role, in the same way that it entertains all and sundry, age and language being no barrier.

The secret as I tipped in the last article is to make the presentations more, or entirely, visual. In other words, they should work effectively as silent acts.

Don’t get me wrong. The idea is NOT to perform silent acts, but to design magical presentations that are so powerful that people understand the message even when they do not understand the patter.

Let me present an example:

Explaining how one should manage different kinds of waste, the magician takes some plastic waste and puts them down a tube (Botania) stuck with a sticker symbolising earth. The plastic waste just passes right through the tube. Now some bio-degradable waste (banana peels?) is put down the same tube. The tube is lifted to show flowers!

The plastic and paper-based waste is put into another vessel (Sugar to Candy) bearing the Recycle symbol. With a proper recycling process (the lid is closed and opened out), the crushed plastic is seen to have transformed into a new cup, and the paper into a usable product.

The magician closes by speaking of the non-recyclable and hazardous products like battery cells, CDs, etc that need to be disposed in a proper way. (He puts it into another vessel bearing the markings of hazardous material, and vanishes the same!)

The difference between the silk-magic explained last time and this one is very slight: This act will communicate even when no word is spoken. And herein lies the true power of magic to communicate. Let’s use it!

Published in VMN: July 20, 2005

Magical Musings: Issue IV - The Magic of Communication – Part 1

The Magic of Communication – Part 1

Remaining in context with the seminar on “Magic as a medium of environmental awareness” conducted at the Magic Academy, let me share some thoughts.

I remain fascinated with the concept of using magic as a medium to communicate messages of social relevance. Most have heard me on this. Every effort to this end interests me greatly, and so did the presentations by magicians at the seminar.

Many good communicative and educative acts are presented by magicians, utilising patter effects. And these are generally quite effective.

In most of these presentations, a magical effect is used as a visual cue to corroborate (support) the “speech” of the magician. Yes! It does make the speech interesting and entertaining, and thereby educating. But the essence of the communication lies in the patter, and not in the effect per se.

The speech gains more importance than the communicative abilities of the effect, which is used simply as a visually appealing presentation tool. The comprehension of the verbal message is important and integral, if anybody is to understand the message.

Here, magic (the medium) suffers from the same demographic barriers like language, as suffered by all the other communication media like TV, Cinema, et al. For example, if the audience misses the verbal association of a green silk to earth, and a brown silk to biodegradable waste, they only see and perceive a magic trick where a brown silk vanishes into a green silk.

An otherwise excellent message is lost out on them, due to their inability to comprehend the language or the inability to follow what is being said (the ‘noise’ factor).

The efficiency of this message may be increased manifold by using magic per se as a medium for visual communication, and using patter as a corroborative tool. For example, if the green silk had an image of the earth drawn on it, while the other silk depicted biodegradable waste, the message becomes visual!

The message is communicated to all and sundry, including those that could not hear or follow the verbal message, which remains secondary to the visual message. And herein lies the secret of using magic as an effective medium of communication.

To be continued…

Published in VMN: June 15, 2005