The world of culture mourns the death of clown and clown teacher Jango Edwards, at the age of 73, due to terminal cancer. "I am sure that he will continue to illuminate the lives of the souls that accompany him," said the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, who made the news public.
The reactions were not long in coming. Family and friends reminded him throughout this weekend on their social networks. Among the first to do so was Pepa Plana, considered one of his disciples: “Today the world is a little sadder. A clown has died. We will miss you so much! Have a safe trip and save a place for me.”
The comedian Gonzalo Jiménez also echoed on networks, who confessed that thanks to him "I discovered the world of clowns as a student on two occasions, in Barcelona"; or the musician Carlos Ann, who deeply regretted the death of Edwards: “Clown, clown and clown, the king of clowns. He was a charming pirate and teacher. Have a good trip!".
The comedian and presenter Andreu Buenafuente echoed an anecdote: “Goodbye Jango Edwards, one of the best clowns in the world. I didn't have time to love you more. The last thing you said to me: 'Do you want me to come to your program one day to sow chaos?' Hopefully, teacher.
Shortly after, the filmmaker Santiago Segura did the same: “Someone who makes you laugh, as he has done every time I have been lucky enough to see him, earns a space in your heart. Thank you, Jango."
The comedian and actor Ignatius Farray wanted to thank him for “peering you into the abyss that lies beyond laughter. Thank you for doing it for all of us. Clown power”, and the NGO Clowns Without Borders recalled one of the most significant phrases from Detroit: “The smile is a weapon of mass construction”.
Many of these messages, and those of a large part of his followers, were accompanied by photographs and videos that recalled the legacy of a clown who for many will continue to remain in the heart.
And it is that making people laugh is not always easy but Edwards always showed a gift for it, even when he was already retired. Throughout his career, he strove to infect several generations with laughter, something he did without much difficulty. Equally meritorious was his work in renewing the role of the clown. Between provocation and tenderness, Stanley Ted Edwards, as that was his real name, modernized the language of the contemporary clown and brought it closer to the public. All of this led him to become a benchmark, as various comedians such as Leo Bassi, Johnny Melville and Ángel Pavlovsky have stated, with whom he performed at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.
Settled for more than two decades in Barcelona, he also worked extensively in Australia, the United States and Colombia. Until the last moment he was active, because a couple of weeks ago he finished his book The clown bible, in which he reviews his trajectory and the nouveau clown movement.
Born in Detroit in 1950, he started out working for a prosperous landscaping company but, despite making a good living, he soon realized that this was not his thing. He carried out a long search to find out what filled him and he tried various fields until he came across the book The Fourth Way, by Georges Gurdjieff, which encouraged him to enter the world of clowns.
England was his starting point. There he began his career in the 70s with the London Mime Company. A satisfying experience that not only convinced him that he was on the right track, but also encouraged him to later create his own company, the Dog Breath Theater Group, which later became Friends Roadshow, co-founded with Nola Rae. , with whom he participated in the organization of the historic Festival of Fools in Amsterdam.
In his last stage in Barcelona he created, together with Johnny Melville, the Nouveau Clown Institute (NCI), in which Leo Bassi, Pepa Plana, Nola Rae and Moshe Cohen, among many others, gave master classes. “I have been free and I have not wasted a day of my life,” he said last year when he announced his illness. Another example that he always had determination.
