in Vegas” ... well the same is true for Gabrovo ...
followed by a competition in the same branch.
The young performers were fascinating to watch and I was most impressed by their solid dedi-cation to achieve their skills. This was followed by the close-up competition in which again the magicians entertained despite the language barri-ers. As a member of the jury for both competitions I was looking for both technical skill and entertain-ment value and on both accounts these guys of dif-fering ages certainly delivered.
After a short break and a catch up with more friends everyone returned to the room for the star lecture of the day by Holland’s Fritz Alkemade. Fritz (with a “z”) is well known for his “Let’s go Dutch” series and this time he delivered a variety of effects from his own show, each with his own whacky stamp on them, all of which could be presented either close-up or in a cabaret situation. Fritz is very likeable and presented all the material with great gusto, much to the plea-sure of the magicians in attendance. The lecture was almost two hours but the time passed fast as Fritz continued to both teach in a very clear and thor-ough manner and entertain at the same time.
We are all familiar with the expression “what
hap-pens in Vegas…”, well the same is true for gabrovo (or indeed anywhere in the world in my experience), so I can not reveal all the secrets of the first night at
“golden Cat”, however suffice to say that after din-ner we all made our way back to the room with the mannequins who were now in party mode. Among other things we were entertained by the talented Petar gianni Sharkov who did striking impres-sions of previous “golden Cat” stars among others, including David Stone (obviously Petar has spent too much time with David as he had the accent down to a tee!), current FISM World Champion Yu Hojin this time with an assistant, Shawn Farquhar, in the presence of Shawn no less, Lennart green and germany’s Topas. Unfortunately Peter’s
perfor-Shawn Farquhar at convention mance was cut short here as he dislocated his arm from
his shoulder and was unable to continue. Many of the spectators believed it was part of the act, but we soon realized this was for real. Nothing serious as I under-stand, and if you are reading this Petar, get well and we all look forward to the continuation next time. For the curious Petar has kindly uploaded the video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6lfYNI_gAE Sunday morning was the stage competition which this time was held in the “Revival Hall” where the evening’s gala show was also to take place. The competition con-sisted of five participants of varying ages from Bulgaria and Turkey. Unfortunately the standard of magic was not as strong as what we had experienced in the close-up and it was professionally decided that no prizes would be awarded in these categories. Well done to those who did participate; their enthusiasm was not waned and many promised to come back next year and enter with improvements all round.
The highlight of the festival followed – the much awaited lecture of Canada’s Shawn Farquhar. I have seen Shawn lecture many times and his charm and pas-sion for magic only mature with the years. The lecture began with Shawn’s signature cups and ball routine which was not revealed. We were then treated to some invaluable material for all situations all from Shawn’s own professional repertoire – practical, to the point and of course always magically entertaining. Shawn received a standing ovation at the conclusion of his lec-ture, and it was well deserved.
Early Sunday evening after freshening up at the hotel the festival participants made their way to the “Revival Hall” once again and the artists in the gala show walked along a red carpet in the entrance in front of locals and media. It was a great feeling to be placed in the lime-light and the gabrovtsi welcomed the foreign perform-ers with open arms; typical of the hospitality which we had all been experiencing during the whole of our visit.
The gala opened with a laser show and then the magi-cal appearance of our hosts and compères for the evening, Dani Magix and Mr. Jim. Before the gala came into full swing, prizes were awarded for XCM (Simon Radev), close-up (Yuri Zahariev), junior (Victor “Bieber”
Badjarov) and the grand Prix. The “golden Cat” this year (remember only actually silver) deservedly went to Marian Kirilov who as well as the “golden Cat” tro-phy also won an all expenses paid registration to the Blackpool Magician’s Festival 2016 – well done to all the winners.
The proceedings continued with performances from Bulgaria’s very own “Father of Magic”, loved by Bulgarians young and old, Astor “Ali Baba” Antranik
and shows for the public. From Serbia we were treated to the colorful illusion show of “Piksi and Zeka”, from Croatia the mental magic of Sasa gerber – Sasa runs a small convention every May in his home town of Osijek
“Magic Os” which I have reported on in this magazine earlier. A charming performer and friend from Romania was next on the line up; Marius” Verdini” Paraschiv is always very presentable and a charming character who performs at great ease in a very likeable manner – pure sophistication!
We had already seen Fritz (with a “Z”) in his lecture and now it was his turn to take the Bulgarian audience by storm: a high energy audience participation routine which had the crowd in the palm of his hand. Fritz per-forms in his own manic style which the audience both young and old alike really enjoy. It was a hard act to follow but I managed to find an adorable child helper from the audience which made my presentation of Jay Mattioli’s “OLBS” a success. I can’t believe out of all the four hundred or so audience members I chose the boy that was wearing Union Jack socks! I felt extremely patriotic, and this led to some great spontaneous gags.
The highly anticipated finally was Shawn Farquhar who presented in his own professional manner. Once again great audience participation for Shawn’s presentation
of the dancing handkerchief (which thanks to Sean Bogunia’s ingenious work has now become a staple in Shawn’s working act) and of course no performance by Shawn Farquhar would be complete without his well known routine “The Shape of my heart”. Of course the magicians in the audience lapped this up and it was equally well received by the lay public who immedi-ately rose to a standing ovation.
We were treated again to the Andromega laser show complete with a laser poi swinging Sinbad look alike, two beautiful ladies in LED costumes, a laser drone which flew out over the audience of its own accord and the huge android costume which has the most pro-grammable set of lights in Europe. An energetic end to a great international gala with represents from seven different countries – that alone was some feat consider-ing the size of the golden Cat convention – well done to Dani and Mr. Jim.
All the participants in the gala show received a plaque of gratitude for their participation and honorary mem-bership to the “Quick Hands Project”. We were all wel-comed once more on stage and the audience again was wildly enthusiastic with their applause and ova-tions. What lovely warm people!
Finally it was back to the hotel for some real Bulgarian hospitality with champagne, “rakia” (the local
schnapps), wine, beer and a buffet. Magicians and
par-ticipants partied and danced until the small hours, and still many were still showing each other effects or shar-ing moves – the atmosphere was magic!
The following day I had to travel back to Istanbul, but Fritz and Shawn were lucky enough to make it for an evening of hospitality from Astor at his “Magic castle Hotel” in Sofia. If you are in the area it is well worth a visit if there is an event on offer. Next year I heard that the “golden Cat” will host David Williamson, so that is a date to mark in the diary already. I hope to return to the town of gabrovo for some more magical adven-tures and of course to enjoy the true friendship of these Balkan magicians.
Lee Alex, April 2015
Photo credits : Drago McDrago
V
Lee Alex