Today’s episode is about one of the most divisive traditions in the world: bullfighting.
Say the word and most people think of a man waving a red cape. For others it’s Hemingway and Death in the Afternoon. But the corrida is far older and more ritualised than that. It grew out of aristocrats fighting bulls on horseback. Then, in the 1700s, in places like Ronda, men on foot made it an art form, and it became the mythology of Seville’s Maestranza and Madrid’s Las Ventas.
Today it’s still taking place in Spain, Portugal and Latin America. It’s also politically charged, tangled up with Franco’s legacy, and under pressure from animal welfare campaigners. Yet the matadors who are gored return to packed arenas, and in Spain bullfights are reviewed in the culture pages, not the sports pages. Which raises the question: is it sport, art, or simply cruelty?
My guest is Brin-Jonathan Butler, an American author and journalist who has written about bullfighting for years. He first saw a bullfight at eighteen and has watched dozens since. He has described himself as revolted by it and moved by it at once, and in his words, it can teach you as much about Spain in half an hour as a lifetime in the Prado.
I’ve felt that pull myself. I sat in the Maestranza bullring in Seville at the Feria de Abril, and I couldn’t look away.
We also discuss animal welfare, changing attitudes and whether bullfighting has a future in modern Spain.
It's a fascinating conversation about art, history, tradition, identity and the contradictions surrounding this centuries-old spectacle.
Orson Welles called it “indefensible and irresistible.” Today we ask why. This is The Art of Bullfighting, with Brin-Jonathan Butler.
Listen to part 2 next Tuesday when Ruben Obadia delves into the bullfighting story in Portugal.
Fergal O’Keeffe is the host of Ireland’s No.1 award winning travel podcast Travel Tales with Fergal listened to in 140 countries worldwide. The podcast aims to share soul-lifting travel stories about daydream worthy destinations.
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