Not your average magician. In fact, when you talk to Drummond Money-Coutts about magic and his understanding of the performing arts, he tells you that for him magic is much deeper than illusion, that it has its own heart. and that he likes to do magic that interacts with the audience, constantly communicates with them.
Exploring a new language with magic and finding his own path in the process, this English magician may have been born in the UK, but his heart is in India. Giving us a glimpse of his fluent Hindi before starting the candid interaction, Drummond also known as DMC could be a scion of a British financial family, Coutts & Co, the bank that serves the British royal family – he is truly a citizen of the world and aspires to be one in times to come.
Here are the excerpts from our chat:
WION: How did your date with magic begin?
CDM: I come from a small banking family called Coutts & Co on my father’s side of the family and my father worked in the bank for about 20 years. Curiously, underneath the bank’s main office in London is the UK’s oldest magic shop. He must be 100 years old. It’s a family magic shop. My father took me there when I was barely 8 years old. Although I have loved magic all my life, the mystery and mysticism that goes with it, I never realized that I would be able to learn magic. Going to this magic shop blew my mind. This opened up a prospect of learning magic. It started a fascination which then very quickly became something that was going to grab my attention in that way. During my teenage years, I went deeper and deeper into magic and by the time I left school, I knew that would be it for me, meri zindagi (my life).
WION: How do you learn to do magic? Is there a structured schooling or do you have to be mostly self-taught?
CDM: It is a largely self-taught field with no structured qualification system. You mostly find your heroes, your idols, great texts of magic…then study card magic, elements of magic that capture you and just start doing it. It’s just giving the magic 10,000 hours (in fact, that’s true for anything you want to chase). Today it has become much easier with YouTube. When I started, it was mostly books, tapes. Studying and practicing them was a slow process.
WION: Since you mentioned “role models,” who did you idolize growing up?
CDM: Two magicians who really inspired me – One was Tommy Wonder who was just amazing, a very charming magician. He sadly passed away just a few years ago. Huge inspiration for me – Another one called René Lavand who was Argentinian. He was very special. When he was a kid, he lost one of his arms in a car accident and he used to do magic with one hand. He still often recited poetry when doing magic. He always said losing his arm gave him dimension, forced him to create dimension in magic, connected him to his audience. I connect with these two because of their connection to the public. Everything depends on this report for me.
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WION: Since you frequent India so much, what can you tell us about your Indian connection and what attracts this Englishman to the country? Also, how come you speak such good Hindi?
CDM: Honestly whenever I can be in India I will be here. India is like my default place. This is my pasandeeda (favorite). I have loved India ever since I first came here. I came for the first time when I was only 18 years old. Since then I have had so many friends here, people I consider family. It’s India ka jaadu (magic), that’s all here. When people ask me what magic is, I tell them that magic is much deeper than illusion, it has its own heart and soul. Here I feel magic in the air, in the history, in the people, in the colors of the country. India is a beautiful chaos with its curiosities, its cultural richness, the energy of the Indians. I have the impression that the Indians have a great appetite for magic. People love the magic I do here. It’s one of my favorite countries to play. That’s almost all about it.
Hindi mushqil hai (it’s hard) but slow learning.
WION: Does the turmoil in India ever bother you?
CDM: For me it’s just part of the experience, the beautiful madness of India. There is a great intensity here and a great peace here. I find peace in people here. They are very sensitive. I find them very concentrated here. When I travel to other places people are distracted there, ruthless in their way of being. In India, I find people focused. On the surface there is this crazy chaotic nature in India and below there is a great stillness here.
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WION: What are all the places you’ve seen in India? Do you have a preference?
CDM: I love Udaipur. This is the first place I visited in India when I first came here. I visited a very dear Indian family, which my family knows and stayed in their old family home. Then in 2021, just before Delta (COVID-19) got really bad, for three months we found ourselves in Himachal. I had never seen this side of India – the thick, dense forest with small temples was special.
WION: Moving on to your magic, what are you doing right now?
CDM: I’m working on a few projects. Although it’s more difficult to travel with a big team but there is a show that I wanted to do for a long time. He has a very different approach to magic, so that’s ongoing. I would like to do it in India.
Every TV show with crew and various possibilities is a beautiful thing. What I dream of for these future shows is to do magic with emotions. Some magicians just want to trick someone. I want to touch someone emotionally. I want to do moving magic that I hope will bring a whole new skin of magic. I also have some ideas for the Taj Mahal, there is such an iconic sense of magic there. It’s a perfect place to create something unforgettable.
WION: What plans for the future?
CDM: I want India to be a bigger part of my life. I opened a bank account here and would like to be here more often. My girlfriend is here in Mumbai. I started doing a lot more private shows. My dream is to spend more life here, to perform in big Indian weddings and in Indian palaces. Next years I want to make interesting jaadu here.
WION: Since you’re so in love with India, we can’t not talk about the food that’s such an integral part of the country. What do you appreciate the most when you are here?
CDM: My favorite thing is ‘sabzi roti’. It is simple and delicious Indian cuisine. Of course, there are also many desserts to explore, but sabzi roti is my happy place.
Drummond Money-Coutts has a Netflix series called “Death by Magic” which was released in November 2018. In the 8-episode series, the international magician revisits the magical acts that led to the performer’s death. There is also a special with National Geographic called “Card Shark”. He then worked with the network for a seven-episode series called “Beyond Magic with DMC” and has other projects in the works.
