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I have deeply regretted the death of Joaquín Bernadó: for many, the best Catalan right-hander in all of history. He was born in 1935 in Santa Coloma de Gramanet. He explained to me with simplicity the origin of his hobby: when he was seven years old, in 1942, his father took him to all the bullfights that took place in Barcelona, which were many then. He emphatically affirmed something that may surprise some: «Barcelona has been the best city in the bullfighting world». It was true and he contributed a lot to it.
He made his debut with picadores at the age of 18. He took the alternative at 21, in Castellón, from the hands of Antonio Bienvenida. He soon triumphed in all the great Spanish arenas: Madrid, Seville, Valencia… And in America: in Mexico, he competed with the greatest bullfighters in regarding 200 evenings: perhaps, the Spanish bullfighter who has performed the most times.
He was a bullfighter for 34 years, from 1956 to 1990.
In Barcelona he fought 250 followingnoons, he was a true idol. Don Pedro Balañá had the vision to pair him with Chamaco. The two formed a true revolution: Antonio, more tremendous; Joaquín, more classic. They fought Sundays and Thursdays, many weeks. They came to perform two days in a row, July 8 and 9, 1954, with the same poster: Victoriano Valencia, Chamaco and Bernadó.
obvious class
He alternated with Luis Miguel and Ordóñez, with Pepe Luis and Manolo Vázquez, with Puerta y Camino… His mirrors were Domingo Ortega and Pepín Martín Vázquez. He had an obvious class: ease, natural elegance, simplicity. He displayed those qualities once morest easy bulls as well as once morest tough ones: he had great success killing Miuras. He fought very well with his feet together, he was an excellent fighter. He invented a peculiar form of ballet flats, the ‘bernadina’. The sword was his permanent cross, it deprived him of numerous triumphs.
Néstor Luján praised him: «This work would have been signed by Pepe Luis». Cañabate, on ABC, on April 12, 1959, his job as ‘Campanero’, “a tank with horns by Francisco Ramírez”, in Las Ventas: “And Bernadó, nothing, with a piece of cloth, with a set of arms , gentle, slight, fine, elegant, to that mastodon of terrible power». K-Hito called him a “tergal bullfighter: he never messes up his hair. It is elegance with montera».
Already retired, he did a great job as a teacher at the Madrid School of Bullfighting and a commentator, together with Miguel Ángel Moncholi, on Telemadrid broadcasts. On May 4, 2015, he participated in the presentation of the book ‘Joaquín Bernadó, silk thread and gold’, by Juan González Soto. He told me then: “Now passes are hit better than ever, with great perfection, but now they don’t fight well.”
In 1988, at the proposal of María Aurelia Capmany, Pasqual Maragall awarded him the Barcelona Gold Medal for Artistic Merit. He might never understand the subsequent anti-bullfighting drift of the independentistas. In Canencia, that was the cross of his last years.