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| Sunday, 1 June 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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by Farah Macan Markar
Remember those days of "Paper Parties". Paper plates, paper cups and even colourful paper hats and masks. Sitting on pink and blue chairs, munching cutlets, patties, ribbon sandwiches, eclairs, scones and little cup cakes. Passing that old cushion around and rushing about to the music trying to get to that chair. Ya kiddies parties. And the most memorable piece in it all - the Wonders of the Magician. The white bunnies hopping out from seemingly empty top hats, handkerchiefs turning into doves, one rupee, two rupee coins being taken from your ears, head and mouth. Wow! How on earth did he do that? Its magic! Yes and it is magic and a few of its secrets (learned from veterans in the field) that this page is all about. Hunting through a huge dictionary to see the definition of the word, the most interesting, magical one that struck me was "Enchanting quality". The first step into that enchanting quality begins in our Childhood. The age of make believe. Of fairies and dwarves, witches and wizards, goblins and elves, giants and ghosts. It is the age where fairy tales are real, the world so big, life a mystery.
So what exactly is magic? According to the veterans of the field, there is nothing in this world which is really magic (Humph). "For" says Prince Noel "Magic is really the art of conjuring. We magicians are really conjurors who give the audience the illusions of magic. People love to believe in the unbelievable, see it in front of their eyes. This is what we conjurors do. Bring the unbelievable into life through our tricks". Ronald De Alwis another veteran in the field says magic is the Art of Make Believe. Conjurors playing the role of a sorcerer. "The spectators know what we do is a trick, but they like to be taken into the world of fantasy, we create for them"-Ronald. Speaking to these veterans seeing their hands constantly on the move performing bits and pieces of magic as they speak one can sense the passion and love of the art in them. The magic of magic is that it comes from the inside.
Music is used in magic to give it rhythm. However magic is the art of story telling as well. These ones are called the patters, in which the magician is constantly talking to the spectator telling a story and performing it at the same time. Sometimes the magician will invite someone from the audience on stage, thus creating a bond and interaction between the magician and the spectator. Says Ronald who prefers this type of magic "The spectator hangs on your every word, watches your every action and movement. This kind of a show makes the audience feel a part of the show, instead of apart from the show". Want to know the best part of being a magician? You grow younger at heart and once you're a magician you live your life as one, performing tricks in day to day life, in the midst of conversation, when doing nothing. "When performing your inner self gets a lot of satisfaction seeing the spectator's wonder. Thus the magician's inner self grows younger, though his body ages" - Ronald. Magic in Sri Lanka was officially established in 1922 with the foundation of the SLMC. Ever since then magic in Sri Lanka has developed into international standards, many of our socerers performing abroad in countries such as England, Malaysia, Maldives, India, Philippines, France, USA, Australia, Singapore and Japan.
In this year's contest held on the 26th April 2003 Sumangala Silva won the magician of the year 2003 and N.M. Nadeem-Master Magician of the year 2003. Sumangala, being away performing in the Maldives I got to speak to Nadeem, a twenty year old from Narammala Muslim Vidyalaya. This Master Magician of the Year whose father too was a magician, started on the subject when he was 16. His favourite trick being the "Finger-ball" one (it's too complicated to explain) of magic, he says, it takes a lot of practise and skill. "You always have to keep in touch not only with the new tricks but the old ones". Dressed up like a Prince of the Desert, Nadeem goes by the name of Disco Magic in his shows, which he mostly performs in Kurunegala. Practising for about two hours a day, his ultimate dream is to do magic in a big way. Now from Magic, its Abaracadabara! |
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| Produced by Lake House |
"For in and out, above, about, below, Tis nothing like a magic
shadow show, Players in a box whose candle is the sun From which we
phantom figures come and go.." -Omar Kyam- (11th Century Persian
Poet)
While magic itself has existed for many years, practised in various
forms in various countries, the recorded beginnings of magic, says Noel
Wickremasinghe veteran magician of the Sri Lanka Magic Circle (SLMC), can
be traced as far as over five thousand years ago, to those two most
ancient civilisations located in the coast lands of the Mediterranean-the
Land of the Pharaohs and the Land of Zeus. Egypt and Greece. "In
Greece there are murals with cups and balls done by ancient priests no
doubt to show their supernatural powers" says Noel. Thus through the
years magic has evolved to what it is today.
These magicians are entertainers, and one can see that they enjoy
performing as much as we enjoy seeing. So what do these entertainers at
heart say about their skill? "For magic you need the art of
presentation, showmanship, personality, handcraft and angles. The magic
should come out of you. It is not just the equipment and gadgets"
says Noel. According to Ronald another magical veteran, a lot of planing
and practise goes behind every show. "Magic is not just about the
trick itself, but the music, presentation, mood, colour, tone, rhythm. It
is creating the magicalness of magic".
The first magic contest in the country was held in the Vihara Maha Devi
Park in 1952 in honour of the Queen's visit. Says Ronald De Alwis another
veteran magician of the SLMC "My dad Linden De Alwis who was known as
the Wizard of the South and magician since 1916 won the Magician of the
Year trophy in it".
