The great flamenco guitarist Juan Habichuela, 'Tío Juan,' known as the best cante accompanist, passed away last week. 

You can see a video of him playing below along with an interview where he talks about his life as a flamenco guitarist. He says he is a guitarist who plays for cante, who loves accompanying cante, who loves cante, who loves flamenco, and that he'll die with all of that.

But first, a poem. 

I saw this on Facebook, written and posted by guitarist Paco Cepero, and I wanted to share it with you:

A JUAN CARMONA HABCHUELA
Paco Cepero

Hoy la Alhambra está de luto
Toda Granada está rota
El flamenco dolorido
Las guitarras mudas todas
El Sacromonte vacío
Los gitanos todos lloran
El Albaicin compungido
Las gargantas todas roncas
Hasta el aire de rodillas
Falta Juan ! Quien toca ahora !
Juan Carmona " Habichuela "
Patriarca de una estirpe
Su guitarra ha hecho historia
Adiós, compañero, adiós
Te están esperando en la gloria
Morente y Camarón
Quieren que les acompañe ahora
Quien les va a tocar mejor ?
Si ya lo saben de sobra
Te vamos a echar de menos! Juan
Pero esperándote están
Los Flamencos de la Gloria

TO JUAN CARMONA HABCHUELA
Paco Cepero

Today the Alhambra is in mourning
All of Granada is broken
Flamenco is in pain
All guitars are silent
Sacromonte is empty
All gypsies cry
The Albaicin sorrowful
All throats are hoarse
Even the air is on its knees
Juan is missing! Who plays now!
Juan Carmona " Habichuela "
Patriarch of a lineage
His guitar has made history
Goodbye, Brother, goodbye
They are waiting for you in heaven
Morente and Camarón
They want you to be with
Who can better play for them?
Now they know full well
We are going to miss you! Juan
But they are waiting for you
The Flamencos in Heaven

This was published in the Diario de Jerez here.

Here is that video, a granaína:

And the interview:

He talks about his upbringing, struggles, and how he began as a dancer and why he transitioned into playing the guitar. He talks about the singers he enjoyed accompanying, like Manuel Caracol, Camarón, Fernanda de Utrera, and Enrique Morente. He talks about how he was never satisfied with his guitar playing. He talks about how much he respected youth and what they do with the art form (His sons a part of the flamenco fusion movement). The whole interview is in Spanish. If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask me below in the comments.

Sacromonte, Granada

Sacromonte, Granada

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