They use the pico* more than birds do
Ricardo Díaz-Manresa
Yes, it's already the norm. Matadors use the pico with the muleta more than birds use their beaks. It's something no one talks about anymore because it's common and has been approved, accepted, blessed, consecrated... and sung about. Not a mention of it, and yet tremendous praise for certain performances. Anyway...
Enrique Ponce was responsible for two things that hit us hard. One, the long, unbearable performances, many of which were given avisos even before the kill. But with a difference, in that he improved the faenas after improving the bull. Performances that got better. And now most faenas consist of unbearable dullards who give flaps I don't know why or for what - to justify themselves? - because they only achieve one thing: to bore.
As for the pico, Ponce explained that it was a technical resource. And it is when the bull is very difficult or doesn’t charge straight, but, with all respect for the maestro, who clearly knows much more than I do, if the bull is good, it’s an advantage or a trick to use the pico. And now they use the pico more than birds use their beaks.
Look, if not, at the exploits of the triunfadores in the recent ferias. “Use the pico!”. Muletazos always given with the furthest part of the muleta rather than with the panza (the central part of the cloth). As it has always been said, you have to torear with the panza. That way you get closer to the bull and there is more exposure and excitement. More truth.
Even Ponce claims - I’m not sure if he said it, and I can’t corroborate it - that, with the pico, there is more space and more toreo... And I say: less closeness.
But there are picos and... picos. Like in birds. Bigger and smaller. The great pico was José Fuentes' during a time when the pico was heavily criticized, especially in the Madrid plaza, the most prestigious of all.
José Fuentes would take the muleta, set it completely sideways and... cited, and thus had all the advantages of pushing the bull away and avoiding closeness. One day, in Las Ventas, in the face of shouts of criticism, he got so angry that he ran to the barrier and, with a sharp object, ripped the muleta and cut the pico. But he went back to the bull and, once again, held it obliquely. A deception.
In contrast, nowadays, the usual use of the pico is to hold the muleta flat and vertical, facing forward... but to lure and engage the bull with the outermost part of the muleta. With all bulls, good and bad. There is less exposure, and it is hidden with plasticity, although, of course, this is less than when luring and giving exit with the panza.
And the public accepts this, approves it, and even praises it. We see it daily. Even in some rising stars, considered triunfadores, who have never executed a muletazo with the muleta facing forward in their lives. But they keep on doing well because the audience seems to like it or doesn’t realize how the torero is holding the muleta... And there are ears and exits on shoulders.
Well, it’s just one more blemish, like the endless and unbearable faenas. Some are criticized by the aficionados, a minority. Muletazos and muletazos (and also with the pico) and they hear the first aviso before entering to kill. And the festejos stretch to two and a half hours or more. But everything’s alright: to be extremely boring and to use the pico more than the birds.
*In non-taurine terms, ’pico’ refers to a bird’s beak.
[This is a translation of an article originally published on www.burladero.tv under the title ‘Usan más el pico que los pájaros’. - TW]