With more than five centuries of distance, Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba “The Great Captain” and Manuel Benitez “Cordobes” They are contemporary in exploits, values and transcendence. Time is unable to take away the common essence of man. Your circumstances, emotions or … Their needs have not changed over time. For this reason, it is no exaggeration to say that the knight and military genius of Montilla was the great “successor” of the Spanish armies, a master of terrain and strategy, a rebel and innovator who changed the philosophy of war and conquest of the Middle Ages from one side to another. That’s why it’s not a metaphor to say that the living legend of… River palm The most popular right-hander with roots that ever existed (and will exist) was the “Great Commander” of the ranks, the icon who revolutionized, changed doctrine and conquered the same terrain where there was only one possible reality: life or death. As in the fine line of battle. As in the disturbing and dark combat spaces. They are both indomitable in their dedication, cunning in the face of the deepest adversity, and loyal to themselves and their hierarchy; Full of courage and bravery. Generous and crafted in the cruelty of orphanhood that forces us to live face to face, above all, from very early on.
Both are intertwined in history due to the connection to Alma del Río, because it was the place where the great captain married back in Puertocarrero Palace. There the “Palmian Hurricane” came to this world. Both are also allies in the plot to raise Córdoba above the limits of the finite, and are united in Córdoba’s history as unique and unrepeatable beings. Both of them were preserved in the memory of the general public, heritage and people of the country. Although also, and why not say so today, both are still searching for their place and the honor they deserve. It seems strange, sir, that you have not yet reached this stage Adopted son of Cordoba. What an irony!
Specifically, the story of Manuel Benitez Pérez, first “El Renco” and then “El Cordobes,” is the enduring story of rebellion against his fate. When I was a child, around the walls of Palma stealing chickens to eat or dreaming under the moon and staring at the bulls. As a young man, he was a construction worker in Madrid and trained to France to pick beets. In the stadiums of Old and New Castile where bullfighting was played out based on endless somersaults. As a man, he falsified myth, broke canons, trampled on reason, and led a Spain that wanted out of the gray skies. He once said about him: “The greatest bullfighter and the greatest man.” Rafael Sanchez “El Bepo”: His prophet, his mentor, his motivator, his other half, and even his obsessive instigator… whose entire Manuel Benitez personality emerged from a car in the middle of the road in Granada when he tempted his warrior’s self-esteem.
From chicken stealer to global icon, Manuel Benitez has defied his destiny and won the love and fame of the public
And today, in the rebellion of a wise and heraldic man, as the fifth successor of bullfighting – a title invented by our people Mariano Cavia– Helping children who want to be bullfighters since its founding. Who want to be rebels for a while. Back to the origin of this amazing story.
“Either I’ll buy you a house, or you’ll feel sad for me.” In that sentence it all began, in that unambiguous sentence from a little boy to his older sister Angelita, responsible for four orphaned brothers and sisters in the midst of the post-war period…, it all sums up. The cruelty of a childhood without school, full of misfortunes like cold, and needs like fuel to continue life. As Aristotle said, only necessity increases ingenuity and creativity. Maybe there, in The old prison of Cordoba Or in the old town of Carabanchel, under the harsh condemnation of the dictatorship. In the harsh winters of Madrid or on the constant brink of risking death by putting one’s life on the line… Perhaps there, I say, is where the story of this rebel with a cause was forged. Life without a script, but like a real movie.
Driving in the box
No one has ever ruled a bullfight like this Manuel Benitez. no one. No one has topped a classification like Cordobi, able to raise the level of bullfighting, of all his companions and at the same time strong competitors, of all cattle breeders and businessmen, and even of the festival that has lived one of its glorious decades. The so-called “poor man’s bullfighter” made many people rich. The first was the audience who saw from the rows, with enthusiasm, a mirror in which to look at themselves to continue life.
His command is characterized by the roundness of statistics. like Bullfighting, 203 ceremonies Between 1960 and 1963, he earned more than many bullfighters of the time with whom he was already rubbing shoulders without getting a replacement: from Ordonez to El Vite. The spontaneous incident in 1957 in Las Ventas, Spain that was changing transistors for television sets exploded as a mass phenomenon for a society that was slowly mutating. Great business icons of the time like Donne have suffered his imprint Pedro Balañawho was nicknamed the “Master of the Bullring,” who stood up to him for a celebration fee as a matador and caused the angry Catalan to hound him on the phone to hire him, collecting the sum of five thousand pesos from that time for every call he made to the maestro.
El Cordobis turns 89, during the ABC Great Captain Awards
Old Tejares de Córdoba saw its selection on May 25, 1963, sharing the bill with Antonio Bienveneda and José María Montilla. Thus began his meteoric career which in eight years, until 1971, totaled 789 bullfights (120 ceremonies in one year) and thousands of trophies. There are three words that define this phase of our successor: “No bills.” He was the first bullfighter to break the million pesetas barrier. “I went to a fight, the crowd fed it, and I didn’t change,” Manuel came to say. With his innate intelligence, his stony personality, and his constant hunger, he knew how to understand that bullfighting stood as an inextricable link between… The bull, the matador and the audience. The real boss. His unorthodox style was unbreakable, challenged by purity, which also ended in surrender to dominance and ended up acknowledging the powers of his left hand spin and the voracious self-indulgence he applied to the Morlacus family.
Then there was a return to the rings: from 1979 to 1981, from 1995 to 1996 and until 2000, when, at the age of 64, he decided to stop completely and as a prelude to his entry into the “Olympus of Cordoba bullfighting” in October 2002: when he was named Fifth CaliphThus joining Lagartijo, Guerrita, Machaquito and Manolete.
Its global impact
“Cordoba”, a legend that crossed borders and revolutionized bullfighting, uniting Spain and Cordoba forever.
His service to bullfighting and his global, I repeat, global, popularity… made him the greatest ambassador for Cordoba, which Ortega himself once called the “House of Bullfighting.” His name is spread on many streets, one of which is in Las Vegas; Or naming more than 50 albums produced around the world with songs dedicated to his saga: of Carmen Seville to the French Dalida and even a musical starring Tom Jones himself. It is possible that South American heads of state will boycott the Caracas summit to share a table and a tablecloth with El Cordobes. El Pardo set up a mobile arena inside that held thousands of people for bullfights. the Kennedy family His friendship was won and Robert’s visits were generous to the home of the teacher in Cordoba, who did not miss seeing the presidential bedroom in the White House until he had been there several times, including the institutional room with President John Ford. He starred in “bestsellers” like the ones he wrote Dominique Lapierre And Larry Collins has appeared on the cover of Life magazine three times, something that his companion Julio Iglesias will never forgive him for.
He has flown airplanes, been a painter, played the guitar and piano, and is a tireless athlete with enviable physical conditioning that stretches to the impossible. They even gave him a “Visionary Actor” award in 1962 for “Learning to Die,” one of the many films he shot. Another stayed at the doors with him The BeatlesAfter an unforgettable stay at the same hotel we have been in for nearly sixty years. Sitting at the table, Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager, Ringo Starr, George Harris and Manuel Benitez With one of his crew members. It was November 1966, and after the boys from Liverpool visited Spain, they became hooked on the trail of El Cordobes, another pop icon battling his shadow. So much so that they arrived in Cordoba to reach an agreement and make a film together. Epstein offered Manuel 30 million pesetas at the time and they retained the rights to the film. But the Caliph dropped the gown, and between the bottle and the bottle of Don Perignon, he left Veronica’s stocking. He declined the offer, and the “Fifth Beatle,” as Brian was called, argued that there were five of them and he was alone. The teacher replied, “No, there are five of you, but there are seven of us, a servant and my staff.” There is peace, and then glory.
The “philosophy” of myth
“I know nothing, but I know so much that I cannot explain everything,” L Cordobes repeated on several occasions, trying to decipher, in Socratic style, his legend, an endless task in the only possible realm of truth: the thin line between life and death. There is no more.
It has been 710 years since Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, the “Great Captain”, died in Granada after his exile in Loja. Tonight, ABC honors the distinguished man who fought a thousand battles and a thousand values by presenting the award that bears his name and that of Cordoba to another “great commander” hardened in heroic action for a unique and universal legacy. They are both so far away and so present. Tonight ABC delivers the third Captain’s Grand Trophy for Manuel Benitez “El Cordobes”.‘.