Granada bids farewell to Pepe Habichuela, patriarch of flamenco

Granada buries Pepe Habichuela, a bridge between two generations of flamenco

Granada said its final farewell on Thursday to Pepe Habichuela, the guitarist and leading figure of one of the most influential gypsy dynasties in Andalusian flamenco. Family and friends attended the funeral in the city, including figures from the genre such as Kiki Morente, Antonio Carmona and Mariola Orellana, according to the publication Vanitatis.

The presence of these names was no coincidence. Kiki Morente, son of Enrique Morente, and Antonio Carmona, a member of Ketama, represent the bridge between the most orthodox tradition of flamenco and its contemporary reinvention. That both attended the burial underscores Habichuela's role as a link between generations: that of the classic tablaos and the one that carried the genre to new audiences from the 1980s onwards.

The ceremony thus became the symbolic closing of an era. The Habichuelas are one of the gypsy families with the greatest weight in Granada's guitar tradition, and the farewell to their patriarch brought together a spectrum of artists who grew up under his influence or shared a stage with him. Mariola Orellana, also present, joins the list of performers who wished to pay tribute to the musician.

The information comes from a single outlet, Vanitatis, and has not yet been corroborated by independent sources. Nor has the date of death been specified; the coverage focuses on the funeral itself and on the verified attendees. Until other publications confirm the details, this material should be treated as an initial account of the event.

What remains, in any case, is the collective gesture of a city and a profession that recognise in Habichuela one of their last great reference points. Granada buries its patriarch; flamenco, a bridge between two worlds.

Piece written and translated automatically from cross-checked sources in several countries.