• Youth

Magical Mwanyekange gains hundreds of thousands of followers

Junior Kapofi

David Mwanyekange, popularly known as David Joe Magic Tricks, is a 16-year-old self-taught magician. He is currently a grade 11 learner at A Shipena Secondary School, and started practicing magic about four years ago at the age of 13, when he was in grade seven.

He has managed to garner 794 000 followers on Instagram, with a goal to reach one million followers before the end of the year.

His journey as a magician was inspired by wanting to learn how to properly shuffle cards. As he was scrolling through YouTube, he came across individuals practicing magic and he was inspired to do the same.

He then went on to fully equip himself with the necessary skills by reading books and studying what other magicians do in order to start practicing.

Mwanyekange learns his magic tricks from a book and then teaches himself. In addition, he said most of his tricks come from being eager to learn and his creative nature. He said his tricks also come from social experiments with people, as this is where the tricks are born.

The magician, who specialises in street magic and face-to-face magic, said this is when he really gets to engage his audience and make an impression.

“I enjoy fooling people with my magic and that is why I enjoy face-to-face or one-on-one magic as this makes a lasting impression on people.”

Challenges

Getting a large audience has proven to be a challenge, Mwanyekange said, adding that people in Namibia are not always willing to indulge what he has to share. He further bemoaned the fact that there are not enough platforms for magicians in the country. This, he said, forces him to constantly be innovative and come up with creative ideas.

Successes

The lack of opportunities for magicians led Mwanyekange to success, as this show him creating his own platform on social media. He started a YouTube channel and Instagram account and immediately got traction on Instagram. He garnered an audience of over 200 000 followers in his first eight months of sharing content, he said.

He said this has been his biggest success by far, as it is what led to his growth and also created a popularity for Namibian magicians.

Mwanyekange said he sees himself as a professional magician in the next five years, adding that he aims to stick to street magic and stage magic as this will allow him more opportunities to engage his audience. He further advised aspiring magicians to go for it and create that platform that nobody is willing to create for them.