Hello everybody,
Today we are joined by a very dear friend of mine and fellow cardman, Rehan Kamal. I believe Rehan has a very unique perspective towards card magic because he took it up later in life, despite this, he has adopted the passion, dedication, study and practice necessary to become a prolific student of magic. I think you will enjoy his perspective...Without further ado, I shall pass you onto Rehan!
Thank you for coming onto my blog Rehan, please can you share some of your magical background with the readers?
It’s a pleasure to contribute to your blog Matt, and I’m thrilled to have been asked.
It’s difficult to pinpoint when my passion for magic really started to take off. As you say, I came into it much later in life. I had always been interested in card tricks I guess, but had never pursued it seriously. Over the last few years my interest started to grow steadily. Shortly before I turned 40, I happened to watch Michael Vincent’s performance on Penn & Teller. Although I loved the performance, the full impact of his magic wasn’t to hit me for a few more months. For my 40th birthday, my brother-in-law bought me a couple of magic lessons, and shortly after that I started to study ‘The Royal Road to Card Magic’ - which, believe it or not, has been on my bookshelf for years! So I guess it was that period where my passion for magic - and close-up card magic specifically - began to grow quickly. I was hungry to learn as much as I could, and the vision for the type of magic I wanted to learn and perform suddenly became quite clear.
Do you have any advice for those reading this blog who may be learning card magic later in life?
Firstly, to try and enjoy it as much as possible. Magic is an art form, and it should be a joy to practice your art, a joy to learn about your art and of course a joy to perform your art. The other thing I would say is that the classic books of magic will never go out of fashion so they are a great place to start. Choose your mentors carefully - study the magicians whose magic speaks the most to you. Finally, and something I’ve learned quite recently, is that magic is all about the experience of your spectator. Fancy sleights and crazy effects are fine - but if they are lost on your spectator, then the only thing that has benefited is your own ego. Focus on the experience of your spectator, always.
If you were stranded on the proverbial desert island, which 3 magic books would you take with you and why?
Oh gosh, a great question. I’m a huge fan of the classic books of card magic and I’m at a stage now where I have a few of the most famous books ever written on the subject. It’s a tough choice - and perhaps if you ask me on another day I would choose a different three books! - but here goes:
1. The Royal Road to Card Magic (Hugard/Braue) - To me, the relevance of this book can never be understated. This book is really special to me. It’s the first magic book I ever properly studied. Maybe on another day I’ll give you more of the back-story regarding my relationship with this book - but for now I’ll just say that I love the way it is structured. The techniques are given first, then you have a host of routines centered around the technique. I have always found it easy to read and the sleights are explained really well. The routines still work well today - it deserves the reputation it has!
2. The Structural Conception of Magic (Ascanio) - As far as books on magic theory go, this has to be one of the best out there. I read this book early on in my journey, and it explains what it means to be a magician and how to approach magic. I love its style - it’s essentially a collection of interview transcripts that Ascanio gave and this makes the book easy to read and comprehend. I go back to this book regularly as it provides a grounding for every magician to build upon.
3. Lessons in Card Mastery (Ortiz) - I think it would be tough for anyone to not include a Darwin Ortiz book in their top 3. I can’t really explain this one…I am not yet at the technical level to perform a lot of what is in this book. And yet, it has become really important to me. First, the book contains Darwin’s brand of ‘Strong Magic’ - a must for any performing magician. Just by reading the effects, you get a taste of what strong magic is and what it means. Second, and most importantly, this book gives me something to aspire to - it shows me the level I need to get to, it inspires me to keep practicing and keep getting better. The effects and presentations in this book represent the pinnacle of card magic. I know a lot of people feel the same way about his other classic ‘Cardshark’ - but for me, it was Lessons in Card Mastery that gave me that wave of excitement when I first picked it up.
If you had to choose, which 3 plots in magic would you say are your favourite and why?
I enjoy performing ‘card at a number’ effects, transposition effects, and I will always love the Triumph plot. Simply put though, plots don’t intrigue me as much as the effects themselves. Don’t get me wrong, plots have their place when putting together a performance set, but for me it always comes down to a particular routine. Let’s take for example Ace/four-card assemblies. I’ve seen some quick assembly effects that have astounded me, and some quick effects that have left me cold. On the other hand, some four-card assembly effects take a while to conclude but can keep you on the hook until the very end…other effects take equally as long and can leave you bored. It’s always about the routine itself.
If you could go back in time and session with a past master of magic, who would you choose and why?
Well there are two past masters I would have loved to spend time with. First, an unsurprising choice: The Professor, Dai Vernon. I’m not even sure where to start with Mr Vernon, but suffice to say his incredible legacy speaks for itself. I don’t think anyone, aside from Ed Marlo, has contributed more to the craft of card magic.
My second choice - and it makes me sad to say it because he should still be with us - is Gabi Pareras. Gabi’s thought processes on the presentation of effects are so insightful. I really love the ability that Spanish/Latin-American magicians seem to have when it comes to telling stories that frame their magic and so he is someone I would have loved to session with.
What experience do you aim to create for your audience in each of your performances?
Following on from my last point, I want to be able to tell a story with my magic. I want to engage my audience with a narrative that intrigues them and one that captures their attention. It’s not about them simply selecting a card and me finding it…this is about taking them on a journey with my magic and I believe the best way to do that is by telling compelling stories.
Final comments from Matt:
Firstly, I’d like to say a huge thank you to Rehan for coming onto my blog and for providing such thorough and thought provoking answers. I hope you, the reader, feel the same way. I would like to touch on and provide my thoughts on a number of interesting points and titles mentioned by Rehan, let's start out with his choice of books.
If you are reading this blog, there is no doubt that you will already know my extreme passion and enthusiasm for magic books, specifically the classics and the masters who wrote them. To consider something a ‘classic’ it HAS TO BE TIMELESS! Whether it’s a book, film or piece of music, for it to become a classic, it needs to be able to nullify the effects of time and continue to provide value, entertainment or satisfaction for ANY amount of years thereafter. It’s these books which we should study incessantly, their contents will repay you with timeless pieces of magic, insight and thought provocation allowing you to create unforgettable miracles for today’s audiences. They are classics for a reason, study them.
Starting with Rehan’s first choice, The Royal Road to Card Magic, this too was my first ‘proper’ book on card magic, despite this it STILL remains a valuable piece of my collection, continuing to provide endless streams of inspiration and knowledge, this shows that you should NEVER disregard the fundamentals because ultimately, that is the base of which you are forever building upon. A strong foundation of sleights, routines and principles will enhance your magic exponentially, therefore we must go back to basics and review these principles. Imagine trying to build a house on a shallow, uneven foundation…The results would be frightening!
I must also acknowledge Lessons in Card Mastery as being one of Rehan’s choices. This is one of my ALL TIME favourite magic books, I read it constantly. It is filled with nothing but strong, first class, professional routines with engaging plots to match, all abiding by Darwin's principles outlined in his books Designing Miracles and Strong Magic. It really is amazing and gets my highest recommendation.
Rehan also touched on an interesting and VERY important point, maximizing the effect from the spectators viewpoint and creating a compelling narrative to MAKE THEM CARE! I am a firm believer that creating meaning and giving the audience a reason to care is one of the most important things us magicians can do, unfortunately so many neglect it. Put your ego aside and maximize the effect and experience with the audience in mind. See it through their eyes. I am pleased Rehan has raised this point, it is a notion I live by.
As Rehan stated, the most important thing is to HAVE FUN with magic. If you have to force yourself to read and practice, card magic is not for you. If you are not passionate or enthusiastic about the craft how do you expect your audience to be? The success of your performance is directly reflected in the passion you have for the craft. Card Magic is a beautiful thing, give it the passion and dedication it deserves, it is the greatest study I have ever known. Give it the time, dedication and practice which it requires, only then will you know what it's like to be a creator of miracles, a real magician.
To finish, I would like to say a big thank you to Rehan for coming onto my blog. I really hope that you gained insight from him and his article and that you continue to do so. Stay tuned for more blogs to be added to the site soon.
For those of you with Instagram, check out Rehan’s account here: @card_magic_student
And my account here: @matthomermagic
For now, I must thank you all for taking time out of your day to read this blog. I hope that this, and future articles continue to provide you with valuable insight. If you would like to contribute to the discussion, please don't hesitate to leave a comment!
Until next time,
Matt
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