Taking my place as part of a rich tradition of black artists
Magical Bones was a professional dancer and amateur magician when he decided to bring his two skills together. The result is his Fringe show, Black Magic
Nah brov… you’re doing black magic’, ‘That’s some voodoo…’ these are phrases I commonly hear after someone has witnessed one of my card tricks, and in fact generally are meant to be complimentary. Although, being a black magician and having someone describe my brand of entertainment as ‘black magic’, the irony is not lost on me.
But what is black magic? Is it Voodoo? Is it Juju?
In order to fully understand what black magic is, from the offset it is important to distinguish it from what it is not. Black Magic is not Voodoo, Hoodoo or Juju. In fact, these are spiritual practices and belief systems carried over from various tribes and regions of West Africa to the US during the transatlantic slave trade. Images of sticking pins into dolls, hate potions and zombies are clichés mainly derived from Hollywood movies such as White Zombie (1932), or I Walked with a Zombie (1943) among many others. And the misconceptions of these religions have been deliberately regurgitated for decades and have their roots in racism, colonialism, religious bigotry, and fear.
The art of magic is defined as the use of illusion to distort the senses. However, if we focus on just the general word magic, it means a lot of different things to different people. It can be surprise, mystery, risk, or just pure wonderment.
Sometimes, the word magic can mean something a little more sinister, like sorcery or witchcraft. Especially when you throw the word black into the mix.
Blackmail, blacklist, blackguard, black sheep, black magic.
All these words have negative connotations attached to their meanings. Funny that, isn’t it? For a tiny little word, ‘black’ carries a lot of weight.
Personally, I describe magic as the feeling of astonishment or wow factor. It’s that spinetingling sensation and electricity that flows through your body when you’ve witnessed something truly special. Distinguishing the feeling of astonishment apart from the art form that evokes it isn’t exclusive to the art of magic and is a phenomenon that can be experienced across many different genres of entertainment. For example, when Whitney Houston belted out that high note in I Will Always Love You; the Nicholas brothers did their acrobatic tap dance routine during the musical number Jumpin’ Jive; or when Tito Puente plays the epic Timbales drum solo in El Sabroso Son… all these wow moments are magic.
My own introduction into the world of magic came from a Paul Daniels magic set that my mum bought for me on my tenth birthday. I was immediately hooked, and I have practised magic religiously ever since. However, even though I considered myself as a serious amateur magician, my route to performance actually started with breakdancing on the streets. I used to busk on the Southbank just beside the London Eye, and I was given the nickname Bones because of my hard-hit poppin’ dance style. The streets have always been one of the toughest places to earn a living. Audiences are allowed to watch your entire show without any obligation to actually pay you – it’s a brutal way to make a living. Despite that, I was able to carve out a successful career as a professional dancer and perform beyond the streets; highlights of which include dancing for Madonna, performing on prestigious award ceremonies like the BRITS, and also being the featured dancer in the video of Mint Royals’ UK No. 1 hit single, Singing in the Rain.
As a magician I’ve evolved creatively incorporating all of my influences from b-boying and hip-hop culture into something I consider to be quite unique – throwing a deck cards into the air and doing a backflip, whilst simultaneously catching the spectator’s card, is just the way I prefer to do the standard pick a card trick.
Growing up as a black magician, for a long time I thought I was the only one.
But the older I get and the more I look into it, the more I realise I’m part of a long rich tradition. For centuries, millennia even, melanated men and women have been using the art of deception to subvert the norm, rebel and survive. But like so much of history, when you add the word black to it, it has a tendency to disappear.
The early 19th century is when the foundations of modern-day performance magic was built. Most performances consisted of illusion and endurance feats, such as levitations, disappearing acts, or dangerous escapes from positions of confinement.
Probably the most famous magician of that era was Harry Houdini, a white American magician of European decent. Houdini was a master escape artist, and pioneer of his craft. His epic performance of the straitjacket always made headline news and would literally attract thousands of people into the open arenas where he performed.
However, during a time when performance magic was being used solely for entertainment, for black magicians and illusionists this artform was not just about performing awe-inspiring tricks. They used the pain and suffering created by slavery to spread a more powerful message; magic became a symbol for the liberation.
Richard Potter was a black magician who was the first American-born magician to gain fame in his own country. His incredible talent and success contributed enormously to the long, gradual process of making black showmanship respectable.
One of the most important and prominent advocates for this type of message, was a slave by the name of Henry “Box” Brown, who as far as
I am concerned performed the greatest escape act of all time, literally escaping slavery to freedom. On 23 March 1849 at the age of 33 Henry mailed himself in a 3-footlong wooden box on a 27-hour train journey from Richmond, Virginia to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where slavery had been abolished.
When he recreated the feat as part of his magic act in later years, he used the very same box he escaped in to symbolise the death of slavery, as well as his miraculous resurrection.
Although, only a few numbers of black magicians within the art of magic received star-like recognition, their influence within black culture and the arts remains undeniable. Notable musicians such as Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Earth Wind & Fire, Michael Jackson and Missy Elliot among many others, all incorporated illusions and extravagant costumes used by magicians into their own acts.
The broom scene in the classic 80’s movie Breakin’, where Turbo (aka Boogaloo Shrimp) body pops around a floating broom is one of the most iconic dance scenes ever captured in the history of hiphop dance movies. In fact, my own evolution and inspirations as a breakdancing magician
On 23 March 1849 Henry Brown mailed himself in a 3-foot-long wooden box on a 27-hour train journey from Richmond, Virginia to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where slavery had been abolished
owe a lot to this one scene.
Like so much of black culture, hip hop was born of struggle. As is the case with all our performance arts, they were used as a form of expression and as a way of mitigating the suffering caused by racist government policies and transforming it, through art, into something truly beautiful.
If that’s not Black Magic, I don’t know what is. ● Magical Bones: Black Magic will be at The Underbelly Jersey in Bristo Square at 6:25pm every night until 25 August (not 12 August). For tickets go to www. edfringe.com