Jansenson, the heir of René Lavand, who today shines on cruise ships

His first audience, of course, was his family: dad, mom and siblings. The house where they lived, in Paternal, separated the dining room from the living room with a sliding door.

Then, when they finished dinner, at coffee time, that door opened and little Norberto Jansenson appeared, just 9 years oldto present the tricks that his teacher (Charly Brown) had taught him in magic school the previous class.

Although at that time he did not know what kind of magician he wanted to become, he did know that I didn’t want to be a common wizard. “Like the ones I saw on television or on one of my friends’ birthdays, who did one trick after the other, who opened their arms in triumph every time a magic trick went well. I already felt that those things were making noise to me. I didn’t want to be a magician who presented himself as if he were a God on stage, making almighty poses. I never felt identified with that,” he says.

It was thus that in his adolescence he discovered René Lavand, who participated in Monumental MoriaMoria Casán’s program. “I realized that there were other paths to work on, but I had no idea how to translate what I was seeing into myself. and there started a search“, says Jansenson, and continues: “I remember that the first time I tried I was inspired by Les Luthiers, by the character of Marcos Mundstock who, with the red folder, read the introduction of what they were going to do next.”

His presentations thus began to include texts that he wrote, with which presented the trick What was I going to do? But as he still felt that he needed to integrate everything, years later he went to René Levand, that magician he had seen on television and who with his teachings became his great teacher.

Meanwhile, Norberto Jansenson had already turned magic into his profession. “I always say that I am going to celebrate 40 years as a professional magician. I take as reference an anniversary celebration of some of my parents’ friends. At that time I was 15 and I was a disc jockey, as well as a magician. Then they called me to play music and also to do magic at the party. That was the starting point for me. That was the day I became, in quotes, a professional magician”, he reports emotionally in front of Viva.

From there, he started working in different places. In principle they were birthdays of friends, family and acquaintances. “A little formal, a little informal,” he describes. And at 19 he started in Pumper Nic, doing shows for children’s birthdays. He wasn’t doing badly: he had twelve shows in one week. Then they also offered him to work at noon on Saturdays and Sundays at the Los Arcos location in Palermo, where there was a stage with tables around it. At that time, he says, “I was already earning more than a manager in a company,” although that had not been his goal.

“I never thought about the economy. I wanted to be an international level artist. Not the best magician in the neighborhood,” he points out. After, He started making magic at the La Cuadra restaurantwhich was on Maure and Migueletes, in the Cañitas neighborhood. From there, shows began to appear for companies and adult events.

His arrival on television was a before and after in his career. In fact, he remembers three important occasions when he felt like he already had a name. The first was at approximately 26 years old, when Gerardo Rozín began to invite him to his program, Midnight of a busy day. “I presented myself as one of the best magicians in the world,” he says.

The second was in Saturday Busthe program hosted by Nicolás Repetto, where Rozín was the producer. First they invited him to go to the show to do a magic trick and when they called him for the following week, Jansenson made it a condition to be a guest at the table with the other celebrities. “But a magician never came to dinner,” Rozín said. And he answered: “Then I will be the first.” And so it was.

The third occasion he mentions is in 2005, when he was summoned to be a jury of a magic contest in ShowMatch. “And then people started saying in the street: ‘Here comes the magician Jansenson.’”

In 2008 he took the big leap and had his own television show, magical nightswhich Marcelo Tinelli produced, on the Magazine channel. There were thirteen episodes in which he interviewed a famous person and then performed a magic trick on him.

And so, step by step, Norberto Jansenson He fulfilled his dream of not being a magician anymore. His professionalism led him to travel and live abroad, and in 2024 he signed a contract with a London firm that has all the cruise companies in the world as clients.

“I have contracted about 35 cruises until January 2026. I started in September and I have already done twelve. A week ago I got off one and next week I’m going to another. Working there is a privilege, they have theaters with great technology”says this globe-trotting artist who fully enjoys what he calls “my path.”

The key to being able to live a life without ravioli on Sundays with the family or without barbecue on Thursdays with friends? “Be a little detached,” Jansenson responds. And he continues: “I was never one of those types of customs. I was always studying, practicing, rehearsing. My family was eating, celebrating an anniversary and I had theater classes with Julio Chávez. I couldn’t miss it because they kicked me out of school. Once you take responsibility for a quest or a path, there are certain things that can no longer be negotiated. And I, for years, have been choosing my artistic path and I enjoy doing it so much, It fills me and satisfies me both emotionally and spiritually.that there is no longer even a discussion about this.”

So on February 2 he is going to do a show at the theater to celebrate his birthday. “I can’t imagine that day without doing a show, going to dinner with family and friends. Maybe my brother and my dad will come. Don’t know. If so, happy, but I celebrate doing my thing. There are thousands of situations in which I cannot be present, which are balanced with other things that for me are super transcendent and gratifying,” he says.

Previously, on Thursdays, January 23 and 30, 2025, he will present his show again Azoth at Paseo La Plaza, which premiered last year with all performances sold out.

The concept of the show is similar to what it had been doing, except that it will move to the Pablo Neruda room (which is larger than the previous one) and will change the lighting, the aesthetics “and some things from the texts to update and enhance it,” adds Jansenson.

In this way, he will be able to once again fulfill his great desire on stage, the one that was born from seeing his teacher René Lavand: touch people’s hearts.