Carrete

Biography

José Losada "Carrete" was born in Ventas de Zafarraya on an unknown date. The only piece of evidence is a registration document from Antequera in 1940. He was the son of a livestock dealer and a gypsy who could sing, dance and read palms, known as Carmen "La Carreta". He led a nomadic life together with his thirteen siblings. However, after passing through Granada and La Línea, José Losada ended up in Malaga, where he made a living as a shoe shiner, selling lottery tickets and dancing in Malaga bars: Central, Chinitas... With his earnings, he would go to the cinema and it was there he discovered Fred Astaire who he thought "danced bulerías dances". Astaire's dancing captivated him so much that he always included some tap steps in his performances from then on. He reached Torremolinos in 1955 and he came to live there in 1965.

At 15 years old, he became a "professional" and, at 22, a "figure". He was a brilliant, impressive and unique flamenco dancer who revolutionised flamenco on the Costa del Sol. He defined himself as an "abstract flamenco dancer". He learned his craft thanks to individuals such as /base/public_redirect/base/basecontent/60265, Pepe Córdoba, Los Vargas, etc. in Germany, England, Norway, France, Denmark, Morocco and America, where he married into Mormonism. He even lived in Santa Monica. He has been accompanied on guitar by Sabicas and Paco de Lucía. Camarón travelled from La Línea to see his friend "the monster", as he called him, dance. He accompanied famous performers of the 1950s and 60s who visited the Costa del Sol in the midst of the tourist boom. He always worked with great artists: Antonio el Bailarín, Farruco, Matilde Coral, Bambino, Mariquilla, Gades, La Chunga, Chiquito de la Calzada…

He performed at the closing ceremony of the First Edition of the Bienal Málaga en Flamenco (14 November 2005) in the show "Dos generaciones" with Chano Lobato and La Cañeta de Málaga. The figure of El Carrete was recovered at the Festival Málaga en Flamenco 2007, with the show "Yo no sé la edá que tengo".

In 2015 at the Teatro Echegaray he opened a show he conceived and choreographed alongside Paco Roji that celebrates his "60 years of dancing". Today, he continues to give flamenco dance classes in Torremolinos, where he is a household name.