Flamenco Guitar Titan Pepe Habichuela Dies at 82 in Madrid

Flamenco guitarist Pepe Habichuela has died at age 82 in Madrid, where he lived, following an illness that had kept him off stages since summer 2024. He was a key innovator of the six-string guitar and an involuntary patriarch of modern flamenco. Born in Granada in 1944, he was a third-generation heir to a guitar dynasty and moved to Madrid in 1964. His career included over fifty collaborations with leading singers, and his partnership with Enrique Morente produced two groundbreaking 1977 albums, including "Homenaje a Don Antonio Chacón." His solo debut came in 1983 with "A Mandeli," and he later worked with jazz figures like Don Cherry and Dave Holland. He was also linked to the group Ketama, which included his son Josemi Carmona, and received the Medal of Merit in Fine Arts in 2018.