José Martínez Limeño
 Martínez | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | José Martínez Ahumada |
| Full name | José Isaac Martínez Ahumada[1] |
| Nickname | Pepe Limeño |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Born | 19 September 1936 Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain |
| Died | 18 December 2015 (aged 79) Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain |
| Home town | Sanlúcar de Barrameda |
| Occupation | Bullfighter |
| Years active | 1951–1971 |
| Agent | Enrique Barrilaro Martínez (apoderado)[2] |
| Parents |
|
| Relative(s) | Juan Luís Martínez Ahumada (brother) Antonio Martínez Ahumada (brother) Miguel Ángel Martínez Ahumada (brother)[3] Manuel Martínez Ahumada (brother)[4] Katherine Adams Martinez (granddaughter)[5] |
| Other interests | Business, reviewing bulls |
José Isaac Martínez Ahumada (Spanish: [xoˈse isaˈak maɾˈtineθ auˈmaða]; 19 September 1936 – 18 December 2015), known as Limeño (Spanish: [liˈmeɲo]), was a Spanish bullfighter from Andalusia whose heyday was in the 1960s. Three of his brothers, Juan Luís, Antonio, and Miguel Ángel, also went into tauromachy, although they never rose above the level of novillero sin picadores.[3]
Early life
[edit]Martínez was born on 19 September 1936 – roughly two months after the Spanish Civil War had broken out – in the town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda on Spain's southern coast, near Jerez de la Frontera. Some sources even go as far as to say that he was born at the town's slaughterhouse.[6][7][8][9][1][note 1] His paternal grandfather was the caretaker there.[1] From a young age, he already felt drawn towards bullfighting.[9] His parents were bullfighting aficionados and his father was a modest novillero (novice bullfighter who fights yearling bulls) who used the professional nickname "Chocolate" (Spanish: [tʃokoˈlate]).[6]
Martínez had his début without picadores at the bullring in El Puerto de Santa María on 21 October 1951, and it was at the very same bullring on 10 August 1952 that he had his début with picadores. At this event, he had himself anounced as Pepito Martínez, and he shared billing with Mariano Martín "Carriles" and Manuel Gómez, fighting bulls laid on by the Antonio de la Cova ranch. Given his lack of experience, though, he chose to give this up for now and went back to being a novillero without picadores.[1]
Martínez began using the nickname Limeño at a local bullfight held on 22 August 1954 at the "La Pañoleta" bullring in Camas, just across the Guadalquivir from Seville. It was a mano a mano (a bullfighting event at which there are only two bullfighters on the bill rather than the usual three) alongside Curro Romero, who was performing on home ground, and who was himself making his début in a suit of lights.[note 2][1]
Martínez found himself performing at 10 novilladas in 1956, 7 in 1957, and 8 in 1958.[3]
Bullfighting career
[edit]Martínez had his presentation at Las Ventas in Madrid on 12 July 1959, alternating with fellow novilleros Adolfo Aparicio and José Álvarez, alongside whom he fought bulls supplied by the Don Higinio Luis Severino ranch. He had quite a successful day, not only reaping two ears from the bulls that he slew (not both from the same bull, however), but also being borne out through the Great Gate.[1] One critic said:
Good presentation from Limeño. He is a bullfighter who begins with something primordial for anyone who wants to be a bullfighter: courage. ... He fought his two bulls with control at times, with composure at other times, and always with great serenity. He can become a good matador if he perfects his style and does not let himself be fooled by false flattery.[6]
It was nonetheless almost a year before Martínez took his alternativa, on 29 June 1960 at the Maestranza in Seville. Standing as "godfather" on this occasion was Jaime Ostos, while Curro Romero bore witness.[6] Bulls for the occasion were supplied by the Doña Eusebia Galache ranch, with the alternativa bull himself being named Granujillo.[10][1][7][8][9] He got one ear and an ovation at this event.[1]
On 24 May 1962 came confirmation of Martínez's alternativa at Las Ventas in Madrid. Standing as "godfather" this time was Diego Puerta, while Paco Camino bore witness. Bulls were laid on by the Antonio Pérez de San Fernando ranch.[1][10] It would be the only time that he appeared at a corrida during the Feria de San Isidro ("Saint Isidore's Fair" — a yearly event at Las Ventas), all his subsequent engagements in Madrid falling outside this time.[6] He earned two ovations that afternoon.[1]
On the other hand, Martínez would gather up fourteen ears over the years at the bullring where he shone most outstandingly, Seville's Maestranza, and would also be borne on shoulders out through the Prince's Gate four times – once in 1968, twice in 1969, and once in 1970 – which raised him to something of a bullfighting cult figure, especially as three of those trips through the gate were in recognition of having slain bulls from the Don Eduardo Miura ranch, which is known for breeding exceptional fighting bulls. That landed him in the category of bullfighters known as gladiadores, who have proved themselves worthy of the distinction by fighting and slaying Spain's most difficult bulls.[6] Martínez's four trips through the Prince's Gate yet stand as an unequalled feat, and unsurprisingly he enjoyed great prestige in Seville because of his successes in the bullring there. He was also very closely linked to the Miura ranch, which supplied the huge bulls that he slew with such regularity.[10] Indeed, Martínez's successes at the Maestranza were such that he was thrice awarded the Oreja de Oro ("Golden Ear"), which the Diario de Sevilla presents to the one who shows himself to be the Seville Fair's champion bullfighter. These were awarded in the same years as his trips out through the Prince's Gate.[7]
Standing out particularly among the bullfights at which Martínez faced Miura bulls at the Maestranza was one on the afternoon of 28 April 1968, during the Seville Fair, which was a resounding triumph in which he reaped both the fifth bull's ears. This was his first great triumph here with Miuras. Rounding out the bill that day were César Girón (who did rather badly with the afternoon's fourth bull) and the local José Luis Bernal, who had great difficulty with the two specimens that he drew at this corrida.[8]
The next year, on 20 April 1969, there was another resounding triumph for Martínez as he reaped four ears from the bulls that he fought that afternoon and was also borne out on shoulders through the Prince's Gate. Fighting alongside him were Adolfo Rojas, a Venezuelan bullfighter from Maracay (who himself reaped one ear from the afternoon's sixth bull), and Andrés Hernando from La Velilla in the Province of Segovia[note 3] (who was applauded after having drawn the worst lot).[8]
The number of bullfighting engagements that came Martínez's way over the years varied somewhat, with 13 in 1960, 23 in 1961, 20 in 1962, 10 in 1963, 14 in 1964, 13 in 1965, only four each in 1966 and 1967, and 9 in 1968. In this last year, he managed to convert a few opportunities to his advantage so that he could regain lost ground, and thus in 1969, he appeared at 23 bullfights.[8]
All in all, though, Martínez never quite reached the level of prominence that perhaps he should have reached. One reason for this, according to Martínez himself, was that he was exclusively bound with "Canorea", who apparently was angry with the company that ran Las Ventas in Madrid, and this precluded his appearing there or at any bullring in the north. Another reason for his diminished prominence in bullfighting in the 1960s was based on the "brave" denunciation that he made, as a bullfighter and as a man, of what he believed had been a fixed draw of a bullfight in the middle of the Seville Fair, at which he had alternated with El Cordobés and José Luis Parada. This hurt him professionally, to the point of withdrawing from bullfighting in the middle of the 1971 April Fair.[6]
Like any bullfighter, Martínez had his share of gorings, including a serious one at Barcelona and an even worse one at El Puerto de Santa María.[7]
Later life and death
[edit]
Martínez retired from the bullrings in 1971 having felt squeezed out of the profession after the draw denunciation incident at the Seville Fair that year (one writer figuratively calls it "the most serious goring of his career"[3]), although he twice briefly came back: once in 1980 to stand as Manuel Rodríguez Blanco's ("El Mangui") "godfather" at his alternativa (and indeed it was on this occasion that he had his bullfighter's queue – his coleta – cut off to symbolize the end of his bullfighting days), and another time to serve as businessman Simón Casas's business overseer, a job that he held until that bullfighting season ended.[10] He fought bulls at Rodríguez's alternativa, alongside Rodríguez himself and Palomo Linares, against bulls laid on by the José Luis Osborne ranch.[7]
Martínez, a respected man who was considered quite affable, did not altogether give up his links with tauromachy, but instead maintained them in other facets of the pursuit. This included business. He was a businessman at the bullring at El Puerto de Santa María in the years 1987 and 1988, and until his death, he was a bullfighting inspector, reviewing bulls in a rural job that he carried out for the Casas company and about which he was enthusiastic.[7]
Martínez was a brother of a Catholic brotherhood in Cádiz called Nuestro Padre Jesús de la Sentencia y Nuestra Señora del Buen Fin de Cádiz ("Our Father Jesus of the Sentence and Our Lady of the Good End of Cádiz") – or Cofradía de la Sentencia ("Brotherhood of the Sentence") for short – whose website claims that it is a Mercedarian and Lasallian brotherhood. This same website displays a saya (a skirtlike garment) donated in 1962 by Martínez to clothe the brotherhood's icon. It is made out of an old suit of lights.[11]
Martínez died at his home on 18 December 2015 in the same town where he had been born, Sanlúcar de Barrameda in the Province of Cádiz. He was 79 years old, and had been fighting cancer[12] for several months.[10][7][9] His funeral was held the next day at Sanlúcar's Basilica of Our Lady of Charity (Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Caridad).[10] On hand for Martínez's sendoff were many fellow bullfighters, such as Paco Ojeda, Juan José Padilla, Marismeño, Juan Montiel, Pepín Vega, and Campuzano, among others. Also paying respects at the ceremony were bull breeders (ganaderos) like the Miura Brothers and Álvaro Domecq, along with bullfighting businessmen like Simón Casas, Nacho Lloret, and Carmelo García. "Another great gate awaits him in heaven," the parish priest holding the Mass, Juan Jacinto del Castillo, told those gathered at the church, alluding to the great gates at the bullrings, where a bullfighter can be honoured for a job well done by being borne out of the bullring raised upon shoulders.[13] Martínez went to this church to pray to the patron saint of Charity.[14]
Style
[edit]What bullfighting critics had to say about Martínez was, all in all, positive. Mundotoro says of him "He was a sober bullfighter who handled tricks with elegance and power. This combination of plasticity and mastery earned him great respect among fans."[10] ABC called him a very elegant bullfighter with great courage.[9]
A tribute to him in El Mundo had more to say about him:
José Martínez Limeño cut a splendid figure as a bullfighter. Tall, elegant, he was the manly archetype of the unmistakable personality of a bullfighter and, after his retirement, he was recognized walking around Seville or his native Sanlúcar. "There goes a bullfighter," people would say with admiration. He always had the good manners of the bullfighters from the so-called Cádiz "corner", once an inexhaustible source of distinguished bullfighters such as Miguelín from Algeciras, Rafael Ortega in San Fernando, Mondeño from Puerto Real, and not to mention from Jerez, such as Rafael de Paula, Luis Parra Jerezano, and more recently, Francisco Ruiz Miguel, Julio Vega Marismeño, José Luis Parada, and Paco Ojeda. A sober bullfighter, he fought with elegance and once outside the bullring he acted as an inspector for the businessman Simón Casas, a role he carried out with great worth until this last season, and in which he earned the admiration of all those who live the world of bullfighting intensely.[6]
Notes
[edit]- ^ A slaughterhouse is a traditional place for children who aspire to be bullfighters to practise the craft.
- ^ There is no word on why Martínez chose the nickname Limeño, but it is Spanish for "one from Lima".
- ^ The source says el segoviano de La Velilla de Pedraja, but "Pedraja" is likely a misprint for "Pedraza", which is a town in Segovia (whereas "Pedraja" is not), which does include an outlying village called La Velilla.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Limeño — José Martínez". tauroarte.com (in Spanish). Tauroarte. 2024. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
- ^ "4.194. Enrique Barrilaro. 20 años que el empresario de la Plaza de Toros nos dejó". gentedelpuerto.com (in Spanish). Gente del Puerto. 19 December 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Íñigo, Luis Ángel (24 December 2015). "Adiós al maestro José Martínez "Limeño"". andaluciainformacion.es (in Spanish). Andalucía Información. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
- ^ Martínez Ahumada, Manuel (31 August 2017). "En recuerdo de mi hermano José Martínez 'Limeño'". diariodecadiz.es (in Spanish). Diario de Cádiz. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
- ^ García, Raquel (17 July 2023). "Una elegante celebración en Sanlúcar de Barrameda". vivasevilla.es (in Spanish). Viva Sevilla. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Abella, Carlos (20 December 2015). "Pepe Limeño, el elegante 'gladiador' de miuradas". elmundo.es (in Spanish). El Mundo. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g Nieto, Luis (19 December 2015). "Fallece Pepe Limeño a los 79 años". diariodesevilla.es (in Spanish). Diario de Sevilla. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Murillo, Abel (12 March 2022). "JOSÉ MARTÍNEZ AHUMADO (Limeño)". historiadeltorero.com (in Spanish). Historia del Torero. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Carrasco, Fernando (23 January 2016). "Fallece a los 79 años el torero gaditano José Martínez «Limeño»". abc.es (in Spanish). ABC. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g Arruego, José Miguel (18 December 2015). "Fallece a los 79 años José Martínez Limeño". mundotoro.com (in Spanish). mundotoro. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
- ^ Reguera Diaz, Balbino (21 February 2024). "SAYAS DE NUESTRA MADRE". cofradiasentenciacadiz.wordpress.com (in Spanish). Cofradía de la Sentencia. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
- ^ Nieto Sevilla, Luis (15 January 2016). "Emotivo recuerdo a Limeño en la Maestranza". diariodesevilla.es (in Spanish). Diario de Sevilla. Retrieved 16 November 2024.
- ^ "El mundo del toro da el último adios a Pepe Limeño". larazon.es (in Spanish). La Razón. 19 December 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
- ^ Breña Galán, Marciano (22 December 2015). "Adiós a Limeño". elmira.es (in Spanish). El Mira. Retrieved 16 November 2024.