The master illusionist Juan Tamariz, one of the most famous magicians and one of the most influential theorists of his art, died this Tuesday at the age of 83 at the San Carlos Clinical Hospital in Madrid. The death was confirmed by his daughter Ana, in a story shared on Instagram, who had also inherited the passion: she runs The Great School of Magic Ana Tamariz. The legacy of Juan Manuel Tamariz-Martel Negrón, his real name, who accompanied his card tricks with a fascinating sense of humor, is almost immeasurable: not only did he have an impressive success among the public thanks to decades of television appearances, but all the card magicians of the following generations declare themselves disciples and admirers, and any scholar of his art has read the books of the Madrilenian, because he published dozens of volumes: he is considered one of the most renowned theorists of magic.
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In an interview with EL PAÍS in 2019, Juan Tamariz said that he still dedicated more hours to magic than to sleeping, something that in his case happened from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon, as he was insomniac. He assured that he had traveled the world teaching his secrets to other magicians and to Ana: of his four children, she was the only one who practiced this art. “Magicians are not competitive. The beautiful thing is to share,” he said.
Tamariz studied Physics after finishing high school. “I wanted to make films [his first short, The Spirit, was also Carmen Maura’s debut], but they required three courses at a faculty to enter the film school. I never thought about finishing the degree, although I like physics, it is very magical: black holes…”. His passion, however, was magic since, as a child, he saw a magician in a theater. “I’m not sure when I got into it. They told me that at four or five years old they took me to a theater in Madrid to see a magician who, if you told him a specific day of a month of any year, he would instantly tell you what day of the week it was. I also remember that at six years old I went into a confectionery with one of my brothers to buy gum. It came with a die and some instructions. I started playing the game with friends from the street Pintor Rosales in Madrid, where all the houses were ruined because that was the front in the Civil War. Later, I asked the Three Wise Men for a magic box. My friends and family were horrified because at any baptism or communion I took the opportunity to perform the eight tricks that came in the box […]. At university, I went very little to the faculty and dedicated myself a lot to magic, which was already my passion, but they always supported me.” And so his career began.
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Indeed, Tamariz had already joined the Spanish Society of Illusionism (SEI) at 18. He tried at 16, after studying several theory books and performing various shows with an audience. But due to age, you had to enter at 20, they didn’t even let him take the exam. Two years later he tried again and passed the test astonishing the jury, who broke the rule.
After leaving Physics and directing studies at the Film School, closed in 1970 by the Francoist authorities, he met Juan Antón, with whom he created the duo Los Mancos, since each used one hand. In 1973, Tamariz won with honors the World Card Magic Prize at the World Magic Congress, held in Paris. That was his world debut. Even then he trained eight hours a day: “Magic is the second thing I do when I wake up; first I scratch a bit and then I take the deck.”
For Tamariz, “magic tries to produce amazement, which is the beginning of knowledge, as Socrates said. If you are amazed and ask yourself why, science and philosophy begin… I get amazed very easily. Once I did a trick for Camilo José Cela in Galicia and then he sent me a book with a very beautiful dedication. It said: ‘I felt the astonishment’. That’s how it is. Sometimes people give themselves up and are left astonished, with their mouths and eyes open. And that is beautiful.” And delving into his art, he emphasized: “In the wonderful profession of magician, you bring out the child inside you; you never let it die covered by the layers of adulthood. That allows you to continuously play with life. And the audience is the same. My goal when I do magic is for people to bring out that inner child. At first, I look at them and see the adult who is thinking: ‘How did he do it, where did he hide it?’, but then, little by little, they let themselves go.”
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And Tamariz achieved that for decades thanks to television. Although it was hard for him. “For years it was a disaster. Nobody hired me. We lived thanks to the fact that my then partner worked as a nurse and we went to see her parents in Galicia and came back with the trunk full of meat, fruit… It was a very happy time, except for the sad 23-F. We lived in El Escorial and, seeing it on TV in a bar, I ran home. The girls were asleep, and I said: ‘I can’t stand dictatorship anymore’. Luckily it was resolved.” Spanish viewers began to see his face, his top hat, his uneven teeth, and his curly hair on the legendary show Un, dos, tres… responda otra vez. He was the Don Estrecho of Los Tacañones. From there, he never disappeared from the small screen, accompanying every apotheotic end of his tricks with his famous “chantatacháááán” and movements as if playing a violin.
His leap to Argentina allowed him to expand his knowledge with illusionists from the other side of the Atlantic. “When I became popular in Spain I managed to bring magicians from other countries, like René Lavand — a Buenos Aires native who performed tricks only with his left hand — capable of performing while reciting Borges, or the French Gaëtan Bloom, who was the reincarnation of Breton and Cocteau. I am very proud.” The trail left by Tamariz is enormous: hundreds of magicians have learned from his books and talks, many others imitate him. In 2011, the World Magic Seminar in Las Vegas was dedicated to him under the motto Juan-der-ful.
He was the first magician without a tuxedo and wild: “I wanted to do the tricks sitting, close to the audience, and that profession didn’t exist here or in Europe. I wanted to come out with my jeans, my hair, and my hat.” And a staunch defender of ethics in his profession: “There are two things that degrade the magician, art, and ethics: using marked cards and using accomplices. That’s why I like the audience to touch the cards, cut them, take them… Otherwise, there is no excitement or mystery. If you use [marked cards], it seems like cheating. And the same goes for accomplices.”
In 2008 he married the Colombian magician Consuelo Lorgia. “We rehearsed a lot together. Consuelo is a wonderful magician. She does very elegant numbers. People don’t realize my elegance and beauty. I met her at a world magic congress in 1976, in Vienna, we became very good friends and 12 years ago she chased me down the street and I gave in [laughs]. At that time, the woman was the magician’s assistant, but in her case it was the other way around,” Tamariz said.
As the magic genius assured in EL PAÍS, “I will retire in 30 years, when I am 106, because I will have ailments. Retiring from your passion is very difficult; there is a fire inside that burns you. I will continue as long as my body holds up. Lately, they must think I am getting old because I get many awards.”
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