Earlier this week, Albawaba's reporter Alexandra Abumuhor had a chat with Jordanian showman and magician Amr Halawani.
During the chat, Halawani opened up about all the details revolving around his career, the secret behind his successful performances, his view on the magic industry, and his desire to be an entertainment icon.
Halawani, started gaining interest in mystery and wonder at the age of 7, he revealed to Albawaba that he loved to watch mystery videos and 'unexplained coincidences' on the social media platform 'Youtube'.
The showman learned his first trick ten years ago, when one of his good old friends taught him how to do a simple 'pick a card' trick, and since then there hasn't come a day where he had not practiced magic, as Amr stated, 'it's a discovery process'.
'And now, Every morning, after I wake up and make my bed, I practice with a deck of cards, for just 5-10 minutes, also, when I'm doing whatever daily activity, there is always something in my hand that I am practicing on, for example, cards, a coin, a ring, whatever object it is, I always practice throughout the day, Its like my second nature, I devote as much time as i can.''
Amr, who is trying to be a magic creator, has revealed that he has created many of his illusions and is now working on teaching them to other magicians locally and internationally, he add that his favorite method of learning is books saying: ''when you read a book that explains magic, you're not seeing it being performed, thus I can easily add my own imagination to the representation of the trick so my character can show.''
During the interview, Alexandra asked Amr about criticism, and since he publishes his magic trick on his social media page, how does he deal with claims that his videos are edited, the Jordanian born explained:
''I take criticism in a positive way, because when I receive criticism, for example when people say my clips on social media are edited, then that means I am doing my job correctly. Its my job to show the audience something impossible where there is no explanation''
Amr Halawani's work is unique and different, and that is because the magician adds a pinch of his character in his performances stating:
''I started to follow a style where the show I perform is kind of improvised, I think about ideas during the performance, and that helps show my character, and to show that it is all about understanding yourself and the people in front of you, to find the perfect way to let out your art.''
'I focus on my character, I have different show performance, for example, a stage performance or a closeup performance. For a stage performance it can be very emotional, story telling, I add music in the background, and there is a lot of interacting with the audience.''
'I like to keep it entertaining, I don't consider myself as a magician, I consider myself as an actor who plays the role of a magician, which means that I am fully a performer and a showman'
He added that if he could collaborate with any magician in the world, he would chose American illusionist David Blaine, emphasizing on the fact that Blaine was the inspiration behind his work, and another artist who affected Amr's career was English mentalist and illusionist Derren Brown.
Amr also noted that he hopes to 'inspire' Jordanian kids who are interested in magic to follow the art, as he was inspired by previous magicians.
Since the 24-year old is focusing on both mentalism and illusion, Amr revealed that his style is a pinch of both Brown and Blaine's works with a great addition of his own character.
What makes Halawani's work even more unique, is his 'Magic at Weddings' project, which according to him is the most challenging.
The idea sparked when Halawani attended a wedding and started to perform a 'walk-around' show to the wedding guests, he remarked: 'Magic at weddings started when i was a guest at a wedding, I saw an opportunity to go meet the guests, and perform a walk-around show. weddings is the most challenging to take part in, because it is not a stage performance, it is a closeup show, where you have to go talk to people, and build a connection.''
Adding: ''I invested in the idea more because I believe that everyone is happy at weddings, and I wanted to add an extra memorable moment in it. Life is made of stories which turn into a memory.''
'As a magician in Jordan, it is difficult as it is not highly accepted by people in the community, for me, my target when it comes to my private shows is corporate events, private events and weddings''
Albawaba's reporter asked about what was the entertainer most working on during the covid period and the lockdown, and that was when Halawani revealed that he worked on 'Hypnosis'.
''During Covid, I started doing shows on zoom and Clubhouse, it was extremely challenging, because I used to perform audio magic, and it was only audio with no video, that means I used to perform mind tricks on people, such as mind reading effects and hypnosis'.
Focusing on wanting something more memorable than 'Magic at Weddings' Halawani revealed that he has been working on shock magic, which is the dangerous illusions and acts.
''I am actually going in the direction of shock magic, my latest trick that I have been working on is pulling a thread out of my eye, after I swallow it. ''
''People tend to remember things that stand out, and things that are strange, I am working on shock magic out of the excitement of it, also another reason is because I believe you should always look at your limit and try to push it in order for you to reach higher standards.''
Amr proved he has a hunger for success when he was asked about the most challenging act he had to perform, as he explained: ''for me, the most challenging trick doesn’t exist because if there was a trick that is challenging and hard for me to reach, then that means I am putting a limit for myself, I don't like to think of any tricks as challenging, I always try to push my limits to reach greater standards.'
Halawani, who emphasized on the fact that he wants to master the art of performing, stated that a lot of people don't take magic seriously due to false accusations, ''Magic for me is an illusion,'' he said ''that is why I prefer not to call it a 'magic trick' because it is an illusion, I am not a 'fraud nor a cheater' as some people believe magicians are''
The performer then talked about the term 'Hands Quicker Than The Eye', saying ''magic is not built on the slight of hand, even though it is an important factor, but that is not all it is, in the 1800s magicians came up with the term 'hand quicker than the eye' to misdirect everyone on the illusion of the act, misdirection is putting your focus on a certain thing while the magician is working in a different direction.''
Amr Halawani is Jordan's most active illusionist, who masters close up magic and mind games, he turns illusion into reality to allow everyone to experience true magic.
