Nothing new at Granada

(Image from funtausa.com)

Following on from their equally conservative carteles for Jerez’s Feria de Caballo, Casa Matilla’s empresa arm, Funtausa, has produced a programme for Granada’s Feria de Corpus, the bulk of which the local afición will probably have first seen some 20 years ago.

In the corrida carteles, the most recent matadors are Andrés Roca Rey (alternativa 2015) and Pablo Aguado (alternativa 2017). Otherwise, it’s the well-worn names of José María Manzanares, Miguel Ángel Perera, Sebastián Castella,Daniel Luque, El Fandi, Morante de la Puebla and Juan Ortega on whom the empresa is relying for a profitable feria. Manzanares and Castella are both under Matilla’s management in any case, while El Fandi (the local hero, now with Alberto García’s Tauroemoción) has only recently left that camp. Somewhat surprisingly, another Matilla torero and veteran, Alejandro Talavante, is absent from the carteles, but José María Garzón will be content that his charge, Juan Ortega, is amongst those selected and will doubtless return the favour in the plazas that Lances de Futuro runs. Indeed, perhaps he already has.

Feria de Córdoba

Having said that, Garzón seems set on a more forward-looking path, as witness his Sevilla carteles and, more recently, those of Córdoba’s Feria de la Salud. The latter make a useful contrast with Granada’s tired fare. Despite the feria being limited to three corridas de toreo a pie, David de Miranda, the local young hope Manuel Román, Borja Jiménez, Víctor Hernández and Marco Pérez have all been accommodated, with only Daniel Luque, Manzanares, Juan Ortega and Pablo Aguado featuring as the more familiar names on the lists. Another local matador, Javier Moreno Lagartijo, who recently went on hunger strike in an attempt to persuade Garzón to include him in Córdoba’s carteles, has been unsuccessful in his endeavours; locally, his absence is said to be the reason why Andrés Roca Rey has declined to appear in Córdoba this year.