Ten years ago, Mo Magic (real name Mahommed Moorad), an electronic engineer, left his lucrative job to pursue a career as a magician in the entertainment world.
Since then, he hasn’t just been living the dream, he has been having a blast, too.
Aside from performing on stages across the globe, South African fans are completely enthralled by his feats. In fact, his magical flair has proved to be so popular, it’s landed him shows on TV.
Mo Magic gets interactive with audience members on stage.
Picture: Abhi Indrarajan.
Given the recent state of affairs with Covid-19, his jet-setting has ground to a temporary halt. But the go-getter is adapting to life in lockdown.
He says, “The lockdown has been been an adjustment for us all. For me, on the work front, it's meant a number of postponed and a few cancelled events. As a master of ceremonies and entertainer, my mission is to spread joy and delight and this brings me joy.
"I have felt the effects of not being on stage so I have used some of this lockdown time to create short video clips during these uncertain times - positivism with an inspired message and joy with a piece of magic.
"The 21-day video segment is called ‘Lockdown with Mo Magic’ and it is approximately three minutes an episode. A new episode is released daily and may be found on my YouTube channel (Mo Magic) or my Facebook and Instagram platforms.”
Magic adds, “Keeping my mind and body fit is important, so I make time to connect with family and friends globally daily (telephone/video call/message) and I exercise from home. Opening my front door and taking in 15 minutes of mid-morning sunshine daily, is a true blessing, too.”
Have you gotten into a new routine going or are you a go with the flow kind of person?
He shares, “I understand the importance of time and I am using this time with my new video series and I am catching up on admin and work on other items I wasn’t able to because of my regular routine. Existing unaffected systems and routines, continue as normal (eg. daily meditation and reading books).”
This much time alone is giving everyone time to focus on the things that they never had time for. Are you finding that to be the case, too?
“Over the years, I’ve trained myself to look at every experience and take from it a positive. Sometimes it’s easier, however with the magnitude of the current global challenge, it took me a few weeks to process my emotions, as I felt for the lives of everyone in the affected countries and then when news broke of our first case in South Africa, I was concerned with the impact it could have on South Africans,” he offers.
“Amid the current challenge, I have come to accept the current situation. My approach is to do the best I can with what I have, where I am, and trust the universe to handle the rest.
"I’m thus using this time to catch up on activities that my regular schedule would not have allowed me to and I am making time daily to connect with family and friends, globally, to check-in and see how they are doing.”
Of his TV shows and plans for more, he notes, “Indeed! 31 March 2020 marks ten years since I resigned from my engineering career to pursue my passion for entertaining with magic on a full-time basis.
"My intent was to focus the time to create and perform magic in various forms. In 2015/2016 I had the opportunity to share my prime time TV magic series with South African viewers and the response was phenomenal.
"I am now delighted to share for the first time, an entire theatre show, titled ‘Mo Magic Live’. The 70-minute theatre show features amazing magic, mystifying mentalism and family-friendly comedy. It is a culmination of my years as a performer with multiple theatre productions and is available on Showmax.”
Everyone seems to have discovered something about themselves during this lockdown. On whether he has experienced the same, he shares, “As a person who strives towards excellence, I invest a large part of my time in personal growth and optimisation with habits and systems, and in the last few years, I have moved towards understanding what is essential in my life, and I have stripped away the unnecessary for the most part.
“This has inadvertently prepared me for this time in lockdown, and being here now, allows me to reflect on this and is another reason to be thankful. For those in lockdown, wanting to invest time in a good book/audiobook that will yield massive rewards in their life, if they are open to it, I highly recommend 'Essentialism' by Greg McKewon and 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear.”