Magician Juan Tamariz dies at 83
He was one of the Spanish referents of illusionism and became popular thanks to television appearances
BarcelonaMagician Juan Tamariz died this Tuesday at the age of 83, as reported on social media by his daughter, Ana Tamariz. "With great sadness today I say goodbye to my father, Juan Tamariz, an incredible person, much loved and admired by all," announced the illusionist on Instagram. The message is accompanied by a photo of the two of them. "I am very grateful for all the love he gave me and for all the love for magic that he gave us. His memory and his immeasurable work will always be with us," continues Ana Tamariz's writing.
Specializing in card magic and close-up magic, Tamariz, born in Madrid in 1942, became interested in magic at a very young age, when at 4 years old his parents took him to the theater to see a magician. From that moment on, he began to train himself by observing various magicians. At 16 years old, he applied to join the Spanish Society of Illusionism, which rejected him for not meeting the minimum age of 20. At 18 years old, he tried again, and this time he convinced the society's leaders, even though he didn't meet the minimum age requirement.
The consolidation of his career as a magician runs parallel to the growth of his popularity, largely driven by television appearances. He debuted in 1961 and, since then, he had a series of collaborations on the small screen. One of his peak moments of popularity occurred with his entry into the contest "One, two, three... say it again, he became one of the Tacañones. He participated in 53 programs and left the contest in February 1977. Later he continued appearing on the show, but only as a magician, not as an actor, as he had done with the Tacañones. About his time on television, he explained in an interview with ARA in 2012 who had ended up quite tired of the demands of the medium. "You suffer a lot there, because of the atmosphere, the pressure, the rush... Nor is it the most conducive medium, because the better the trick, the more the viewer will think that the recording has been edited. And there is also the issue of audience. They told me: 'It's that when you go out with the purple hat, you are more liked'. Look, I go out as I want, stop the nonsense," he said.
His work crossed borders. In 1973 he received the World Card Magic Prize during the World Magic Congress held in Paris. In the Spanish sphere, he also accumulated numerous recognitions, such as the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts awarded by the Spanish government and the Gold Medal of the Madrid City Council. However, he was able to relativize prizes. "In a 100-meter race, one person comes in first, but in art... Who is the best musician in history? Well, the one who has moved you the most, which is not the same as for another person," he said. Seen this way, there are surely millions of people willing to proclaim him the best in history, precisely because of the capacity to move people that he had with a deck of cards, "a wonderful instrument".
Physics student and violin 'player'
Although magic was a passion and vocation, Tamariz studied cinema and also physics... for very prosaic reasons: "To enter the Film School, they asked for three years of university studies, and the Faculty of Physics was nearby. I did four of the five years of the degree. The vocation was magic, and cinema as a derivative," he recalled. In addition to his talent for magic, especially close-up magic, Tamariz managed to build an inimitable singularity with his long hair, different war cries when he culminated his tricks, and the celebration with an imaginary violin.
Also, without losing the component of folk art, he contributed to changing the perception some had of magic. "Many years ago, they treated you as something absurd, they despised you in certain intellectual circles, in Culture with a capital C, something very dangerous. Not anymore, they call you from fine arts schools and others because they see you as a magnificent folk art," admitted a magician who sought to transmit "the fire and passion" for magic that he carried within. "I have learned from great masters like Frakson. In art, you must not love what you do, you must be passionate about it. You have to feed the flame, and transmitting that is already worthwhile. Technical quality, structure, dramatization... are important, but you must feel pleasure. For me, that is the most important thing," he explained in an interview with Carles Capdevila in ARA.
