Biography

Pepe Habichuela was born on October 23, 1944 in Granada, Spain. He is known for The Apostate (2015), Paper Birds (2010) and Los ladrones van a la oficina (1993). He was married to Amparo Bengala. He died on August 4, 2026.

In 2018, he was awarded a Music Gypsy Culture Award and was named by the City Council of Granada 'Ambassador of Granada Flamenco'.

At the age of twelve, he already played the guitar for the Sacromonte and at 18, in 1962, he left for Madrid, where his brother Juan worked.

In 2026 he received the Grand Cross of Alfonso X the Wise for his artistic excellence.

His awards are the Flamenco Master Award of the Mediterranean Music Institute 2015 of the Berklee College of Music University, the Gold Medal for Merit of the Fine Arts 2018 (collected from the hands of the kings in 2021), the Manolo Sanlúcar International Flamenco Prize 2024 of the Andalusian Flamenco School and the Castillete de Oro 2025 of the Festival del Cante de las Minas.

Spent his childhood with his six brothers in a cave in the Albaicín neighborhood, near the Sacromonte, where his father took family and friends to play the guitar after doing it in taverns, while the women danced.