Joaquín Rodríguez Ortega (; 17 February 1903 – 1 January 1984), professionally known as Cagancho (), was a Spanish bullfighter much of whose career was spent in Mexico, although he did sometimes perform in his native Spain, and one of his performances there, in Almagro, Ciudad Real in 1927 even gave rise to a now well known expression in the Spanish language. Rodríguez also found himself appraised in English when he and his craft were described by Ernest Hemingway in his non-fiction work Death in the Afternoon, along with many other Spanish bullfighters of the early 20th century.
Early life Rodríguez was born on 17 February 1903 at Calle Evangelista no. 4 in Seville's Triana neighbourhood into a family that had a long line of Romani artists. His father was Joaquín Rodríguez Vargas, a blacksmith, and his mother was Amparo Ortega Bermúdez, a cigar seller. Along with his cousin, Francisco Vega de los Reyes, "Gitanillo de Triana" ("Little Gypsy from Triana"), he began learning about bullfighting. Rodríguez did not have a difficult childhood and did not grow up in poverty; so he did not find himself drawn towards bullfighting out of economic need, as was so for so many would-be bullfighters at that time. Instead, bullfighting seemed for him to be almost inborn, although it was helped along by his friendship with Francisco. He was determined to fight bulls professionally. He slew his first cow at the age of 15 at the Venta de Guadaíra. He began going to local bullfighting events, where he developed what would become his trade.
Nickname Rodríguez inherited his nickname "Cagancho" from his grandfather Manuel Rodríguez García "Cagancho", who was a flamenco singer of some note. There are various explanations as to the nickname's derivation. According to one popular story, Manuel Rodríguez García was called "Cagancho" because he was a good singer, and "Cagancho" is a Caló word that means a kind of songbird. Another story refers to a long past family business of making and selling clothes hangers, with ca gancho (contracted form of cada gancho, meaning "each hanger") always being part of the salesman's street cry. Other interpretations of "Cagancho" have been scatological, with one critic, believing Rodríguez's nickname to be thus derived, refusing to use it in his work because, as he said, such an outlandish bullfighter's way of defecating did not interest him. Other writers, though, were somewhat less respectful, even going as far as to write and publish rhymes that referred to the nickname in this way, like this one, for example: Spanish English translationPorque, vamos, francamente, ese apodo impertinente es una ofensa al olfato, por lo nuevo y maloliente, no le cuadra dignamente a un artista de boato.Because, come on, frankly, that impertinent nickname is an offence to the sense of smell, because of its newness and smelliness, it does not worthily fit an artist of pageantry. Rodríguez was also sometimes called "el gitano de los ojos verdes" ("the green-eyed Gypsy"), which drew a parallel with Villalón bulls' eyes.
Career as a novillero Rodríguez made his public début in San Fernando, Cádiz in 1923 at a contractual bullfighting event. The bull calves were laid on by the Bohórquez ranch.
According to José María de Cossío y Martínez Fortún, a member of Spain's Real Academia de la Historia who wrote much about tauromachy, "He was very good at bullfighting and very bad at killing." This he said in reference to a bullfighting event at which Rodríguez had seen his calf sent back to the bullpen (a very poor outcome).
Rodríguez presented himself at the Maestranza in his hometown, Seville, on 25 July 1924, in an evening novillada (novice bullfight at which calves are used) that involved six bullfighters. The others were Manuel Hiruelo, Enrique Arévalo Montes, Eduardo Pérez "El Niño de la Venta", José Reyes "Pedrillo" and Antonio Rodríguez Pérez "Rodrigo"; all but the first were, like Rodríguez, beginners. Calves for that evening were supplied by the Marqués de Salas ranch. There is disagreement over whether Rodríguez was the one who won the prize of 200 pesetas that was being offered for whoever performed best, with at least one source saying that he did not win, but was nevertheless contracted to come back the next week after the good impression that he had made.
Rodríguez also had a great triumph in Valencia in 1925, and was already becoming a leading novillero (novice bullfighter). The next year, on 27 June in Barcelona, he had a dreadful performance. This, however, was juxtaposed with another bullfight in Barcelona on 4 July that was very important for him, even though he fought others at that bullring the same year, on 25 July and 1 August. The contrast prompted one writer to wonder "Which is the legitimate Cagancho, the one of the third bull, fearful, cowering, clumsy, or the one of the sixth, upright, a great bullfighter and brave? He himself will clear up our doubts." It was nonetheless a key season in his career, and did much to make him a bullfighting star. Cossío wrote that these three bullfights at Barcelona opened the doors to Madrid, where he presented himself on 5 August, and that the event established him. His style of bullfighting led to ovations usually reserved for bullfighting's greats. At that novillada at Las Ventas that afternoon, Rodríguez alternated with Gitanillo de Triana and Enrique Torres. The bulls were supplied by the Villamarta ranch. In those days, his apoderado (manager-agent) was Domingo Dominguín, who helped arrange his date in Madrid, which cemented his place among that city's aficionados. He came back to Las Ventas on 10 September 1926 for another bullfight, but was badly wounded.
In October 1926, the bullfighting magazine La Lidia advertised a charitable festival, organized by Paco Gómez Yunta in Tarancón, in which Rodríguez had himself billed as Joaquín Rodríguez "Cagancho".
Bullfighting career
Rodríguez took his alternativa on 17 April 1927 at Murcia. Standing as "godfather" for the ceremony was the Madrid bullfighter Rafael Gómez Ortega "El Gallo", while Manuel Jiménez Moreno "Chicuelo" bore witness. Bulls were supplied that afternoon by the Doña Carmen de Federico ranch, and the bull used for the ceremony was named Orejillo ("Little Ear"). It was the first bullfight in which he had performed that season.
Not all reviewers were kind in their responses to Rodríguez's alternativa performance. Don Diquela, writing for the Liberal de Murcia said of it "Cagancho's performance was something so deplorable that there is no adjective in our rich Castilian language that can describe it."
César Jalón, in his book Memorias de Clarito, waxed rather metaphoric in his account of Rodríguez's afternoon in Murcia in which he describes the bullfighters' "flight":
Things got even worse for Rodríguez on 1 May in Caravaca de la Cruz. His failure there was so extraordinary that he, as it were, sank into the mire. Cagancho riddled his victims, who had been supplied by the Duque de Braganza ranch, giving rise to an unprecedented scandal, and also leading the corrida presidency to issue three warnings (the maximum before the bull is sent back to the bullpen — in itself a disgrace for the bullfighter) for each bull that he faced. The bulls, though, never made it back to the bullpen, dying of the many wounds inflicted on each one. Murcia's newspaper El Tiempo had this to say about the event: "The Caravaca bullfight was a real disaster and the bullfighting figure of the bullfighter Cagancho was buried forever."
Clarito, another famous Spanish Romani bullfighter recounts in his memoirs a story in which he confirms Rodríguez's reputation as one unskilled in slaying bulls. Rodríguez came to Clarito's hotel one day, heartbroken, to tell him that their friend Sabino had suddenly died. Clarito then hurriedly finished his cup of coffee. No sooner had he done so than Sabino suddenly appeared, very much alive. This drew an outburst from Clarito in which he said to Rodríguez "Well, damn your lineage! Do you leave your friends alive, too?"
El Tiempo may have been quite harsh in what it wrote about Rodríguez, but his bullfight in Toledo on 8 May 1927 was the one that prompted Gregorio Corrochano to liken him to Montañés (see below).
Eight days later, on 16 May – the Feast of Corpus Christi that year – Cagancho achieved a resounding triumph in the same Toledo bullring with the bull Rondeño from the Marqués de Guadalest ranch, which was pulled round the bullfighting ground before being dragged out. On the bill that afternoon were Antonio Cañero (a rejoneador), Gallo, Rayito and Rodríguez. The bullfight-goers filled the ring with hats. Ears were cut, along with a tail and there was "delirium".
Rodríguez's alternativa was confirmed, despite various débâcles earlier in this season, on 21 June (or 22 June — sources differ) that same year at Las Ventas in Madrid. Standing as "godfather" this time was the Madrid bullfighter Victoriano Roger Serrano "Valencia II", while Marcial Lalanda bore witness. Bulls were supplied that afternoon by the Doña María Montalvo ranch, and the bull used for the ceremony was named Naranjo ("Orange Tree"). He appeared at 46 corridas in the 1927 Spanish bullfighting season, and knew both triumphs and humiliating defeats: ten of the bulls that he faced were sent back to the bullpen after he had failed to slay them. He thus became a bullfighter to whom nobody was indifferent; for better or for worse, he aroused passions. This, Rodríguez's first bullfighting season as a fully-fledged matador, swung between resounding successes and stunning failures, a pattern that was to be repeated throughout his career. One of his greatest failures came on 25 August 1927 in Almagro; this was the one that gave the Spanish language a now common expression referring to a lamentable failure (see "Quedar como Cagancho en Almagro" below). He also appeared at 10 corridas in Mexico that year.
Come 17 October 1927, Rodríguez found himself in Zaragoza for yet another bullfight that ended miserably. He was sharing billing with Antonio Márquez and Gitanillo de Triana, with bulls supplied by the Concha y Sierra ranch. With the afternoon's fifth bull, he heard the regulatory warnings and the cowbells ringing and went to the infirmary. The president suspended the fight once Doctor Pérez Serrano had certified that he was not injured. He later left the bullring infirmary in civilian clothes in a car, bound for Casetas, where he caught a train out of town.