The guitarist Pepe Habichuela, one of the essential figures in the history of flamenco, passed away this Tuesday in Madrid at the age of 82, after an illness that had kept him away from the stages since the summer of 2024. With his disappearance, flamenco loses one of the great renovators of the Spanish guitar and an artist who dedicated more than six decades to expanding the limits of the genre without ever renouncing his roots.
Born in Granada in 1944 with the name José Antonio Carmona Carmona, Habichuela belonged to one of the most influential family sagas in flamenco. Grandson, son, and brother of guitarists, he began to train in the caves of Sacromonte before moving to Madrid in 1964, where he started a career that would make him one of the most respected musicians in the flamenco scene.
A reference for several generations
During his early years in the capital, he accompanied some of the great names of cante, including Juanito Valderrama, Fosforito, or Fernanda and Bernarda de Utrera, participating in dozens of recordings that consolidated his prestige as an accompanying guitarist.
However, one of the decisive moments of his career came with Enrique Morente. The two signed the albums Homenaje a Don Antonio Chacón and Despegando in 1977, two works considered fundamental in the evolution of contemporary flamenco for their commitment to new harmonies and ways of understanding the genre.
His solo career began a few years later with A Mandeli (1983), an album that inaugurated the collection Los Jóvenes Flamencos of the label Nuevos Medios and that would mark the beginning of a period of enormous influence on the new generations.