Music meets magic

There’s something about music and magic that beguiles Rannie Raymundo.  And it doesn’t come as a surprise for those who know him well.  The composer of many a hit songs, among them Dingdong Avanzado’s Tatlong Beinte Singko, is born into art the way music and magic are products of creative minds.

“Music and magic follow a certain rhythm, a certain beat,” he relates. “They require you to think out of the box.”

This thinking out of the box is what he has in common with top American magicians Michael Rubinstein and David Roth, Rannie’s recent guests. The duo, renowned for their skills as coin magicians, toured the country recently to share their craft before fellow lovers of this art of suspended disbelief.

And they couldn’t agree more with Rannie about the close link between music and magic.

“Magic follows a set sequence,” explains David. “You must follow this sequence lest you get lost.”

It’s much like the sequence of a musical progression; the natural flow of a melody takes.

Michael, who also happens to be a veterinarian, sees the link between magic and the art of entertaining people — young people to be exact. He has seen it with his own two eyes while performing magic before children waiting for their pets to take their turn in his New York clinic.

The two came to the Philippines not knowing any other Filipino magician except Rannie, himself a world record holder for his knack for holding the most number of coins (30, twice the record of only 15) in his palm at any given time. They went away impressed at what they saw.

“Filipino magicians we lectured to are very enthusiastic,” Roth and Rubinstein observe. And they see big possibilities where the art of magic is concerned in the Philippines.

Rannie sees that, too. And nothing saddens him more than seeing fellow magicians wallow in the shadows, or worst, mired in poverty, for being the artists that they are.

That’s why Rannie has come up with the CD Musika ng Mahika, Mahika ng Musika with songs composed solely by these magicians. The CD was recorded and mixed in Rannie’s home-based recording studio, Brattrax.

Here, Rannie patiently got his fellow magicians started in the art of songwriting. When they met his words with astonishment, Rannie coaxed them, “Of course, you can write songs! Start with experiences closest to your heart.”

And they did. The result is the CD Rannie himself is promoting as independent producer. All its proceeds will go to an endowment fund for old magicians.

“I don’t want to earn a single centavo from it,” Rannie reveals. “These magicians are too much of artists to think much about material things.”

And just to make sure they’re well taken cared of, Rannie is organizing a magician’s foundation, with him as president. Its headquarters are in West Greenhills. Rannie started the ball rolling months back when he performed magic in depressed areas in the metro where there are struggling magicians. Next month, Rannie and his team are scheduled to visit Tondo.

He has also performed for charitable groups like Caritas and Skype Foundation.

It’s payback time for Rannie. And he gladly gives back the blessings he has generously received.

“I have nothing more to prove at this point in my life,” muses Rannie. “That’s why I’m leaving my ego at the backdoor.”

Rannie also has another good reason for giving needy magicians a helping hand. His paternal great grandfather happens to be an illusionist known the world over for his swiftness of movement and talent for sleight of hand.

“Magicians I meet around the world talk of him fondly and with reverence,” reveals the proud grandson.

This must be why  Rannie was already wielding his magic wand at age seven and learning the art his great grandfather practiced so well. At an age when most boys his age were playing with matchboxes and miniature soldiers, Rannie was toying around with coins and other magic paraphernalia.

Now that he has brought his magic coins to places near and far, Rannie can’t get enough of seeing jaws drop and eyes almost popping out of their sockets when people watch his magic tricks.

“The fulfillment is terrific,” Rannie crows. “You’re giving your audience an escape route from their daily worries.”

In other words, you make life more bearable, less stressful. And that brings us to Rannie’s other point: Magic, he insists, keeps one young.

Rannie may be 40, but life, for him, as, the saying goes, is just beginning. He’d like to share the same feeling with others the best way he knows how: Through his music and magic.

The combination may be new, but it could very well spell the difference between a ho-hum existence and a day worth looking forward to.