“Please sign this card. That’s right. Now put it here in the middle of the pack. Right I’ll snap my fingers and there you are, it’s on top. Isn’t it?…. Well, go and have a look in that box over there on the table …” A councillor from Albufeira Council is still looking incredulously, trying to find the card in the pack. With no success. He lifts the lid and hey presto, the marked card is folded in a small pile inside the box.

 

The trick, performed by the Brazilian magician Andrely is just a sample of the tricks big and small that they have “up their sleeves” for the 1st Albufeira Magic Festival.

 

One of the most sensational moments will take place in the Largo Engº Duarte Pacheco in the centre of Albufeira on Saturday afternoon: a magician will attempt to free himself from chains inside a box hoisted several metres from the ground by a crane.

At a press conference calling for the participation of the fire service and security forces, Fernando Marques Vidal, president of the Portuguese Illusionism Association said that it was new kind of magic, and there had already been some incidents with the trick, but they hoped that everything would go well.

The festival programme is wide-ranging and it includes shows just for children as well as others for older people. There are also street shows, shows for schools and International Galas.

The range of invited guests includes Portuguese and international illusionists, close to 30 in all, including some of the big names in the field such as Rick Merrill, who won the World Congress, which was held in Stockholm, the Frenchman Mathieu Bich and the Portuguese David Sousa and Sérgio e Marta, the Algarve illusionist, as well as many others.

Pedro Teixeira, aged 22, is one of the youngest. He’s studying Computer Engineering at the Technical Institute in Lisbon, but he devotes a lot of his time to magic. He told the Algarve Observer that his father had been in magic, and that he had been watching magic since he was born, and for that reason he had joined the Portuguese Illusionism Association at the age of 14. He said that you have to enjoy it, and that it is very important to be together with other magicians, to be in an association, sharing ideas and knowledge. He said that for him it was much more than a mere hobby.

Pedro, who will be performing with Gonçalo Jorge, said that there were new values in evidence in the illusionist’s art. He said that there was room for new illusionists and that you only had to remember that last year two Portuguese won prizes at the World Championship for the first time.

Gonçalo, his partner, is completing his course at the Faculty of Medicine in Lisbon. He said that he divided his time equally between his studies and magic. He is thrilled by magic. He said that it was very fulfilling to have the feeling that you have managed to really get inside someone, creating feelings of joy, fascination and magic, a very special feeling

In a small demonstration, he got everyone to look at an imaginary pack of cards. He said “Now remember one card” and the pack went from one hand to the other, being cut and cut again. “What was the card?” he asked. “Two of clubs” one of the audience answered. Now Gonçalo picked up a real pack of cards which he pulled out of his pocket, opened it and showed us a card, the wrong way round …. the two of clubs.


For Gonçalo, the important thing is not the technique but rather the audience. He said that there were some very complex techniques which made only a slight impact, and there were very elegant, grand illusions that were relatively simple. But his recommendation is that people should leave the technical side to the magicians, and have fun! He himself is a fan of a trick by David Copperfield in which he flies on the stage, with no support, with an assistant.

For Andrely, who has been a professional for 15 years, magic is more than a profession, it is a profession and a hobby. He said that magic was like a live special effect from a film, but without the barrier of the screen. He said that they managed to transmit this magic live to the audience.

Portuguese illusionists in a strong position

Fernando Marques Vidal, president of the Associação Portuguesa de Ilusionismo (API), the Portuguese Illusionism Association, said that magic in Portugal had come a long way in recent years. He said that it was no longer magic with lots of boxes and little boxes, with tricks that were bought and were always the same. He said that magic today was much more creative and depended much more on the individual.

To help them develop further, the illusionists will also have a convention of the API as part of the 1st Albufeira Magic Festival, with conferences, workshops and competitions with cash prizes for the best magicians.

Desidério Silva, president of the Albufeira Municipal Council, said that the idea had started two years ago, adding that they thought it was a good way of combating the seasonal nature of tourism, going beyond “sun and beach” and raising the profile of these artists and providing something for the public as a whole. The local leader decided to invest close to 60,000 euros in a week that he said would be unparalleled. He said that they thought it was a good way to promote culture and art, adding that others put on festivals of humour or fairs, and they had decided that they should not do the same. In addition, it had been one of his electoral promises, he went on, with a campaign leaflet full of bullet-points. He said that he could cross out all the ones he had achieved, but there were still many left.

And what about contracting a full time magician to solve the problems of the Council? He replied that you couldn’t do that by just clicking your fingers, and that he preferred to keep his feet firmly on the ground.

source: algarve observer