El Carrete
Who is El Carrete?
José Losada Santiago, El Carrete, was born on February 27, 1941 in the Antequera area of Málaga, into a family of itinerant Roma; his nickname comes from his mother’s own nickname, “La Carreta”. He began dancing around the age of six, and during the postwar years he was already dancing on piles of wheat by the roadside while his mother cheered him on. He turned professional during the tourism boom on the Costa del Sol in the fifties and sixties, learning the craft almost entirely on stage, with barely any formal training; as a child he admired Fred Astaire and would sneak into cinemas to watch him dance.
Career
He settled in Torremolinos and became a fixture at the tablao El Jaleo during the sixties and seventies, performing alongside artists such as Los Vargas, La Repompa, Farruco, Antonio and Matilde Coral, and before celebrities of the era such as Anthony Quinn, Brigitte Bardot, Sean Connery and King Juan Carlos I himself, who once went so far as to congratulate him after a performance. His force on stage, capable of “wrecking” the guitarists who accompanied him —among them Sabicas and Paco de Lucía— led Camarón de la Isla to call him “the monster” and to travel specifically to see him dance.
He remained based in Torremolinos, teaching flamenco and performing at the tablao Los Tarantos in Playamar, until in 2007 the theatrical production “Yo no sé la edá que tengo”, directed by Pepa Gamboa, with musical direction by Juan Requena and text by José Luis Ortiz Nuevo, brought him back into the spotlight with performances in Málaga, Granada and Seville. Singer Rufus Wainwright himself, who saw him dance in Málaga, went so far as to invite him to liven up the opening of an art gallery in New York.
Style
His dancing, centered on soleá, cantiñas, bulerías, tangos, tarantos, alegrías and tientos, is recognized for its purity and a technique more intuited than studied; he was capable of brief but striking footwork and furious turns, and could even dance seated in a chair, making the toes and heels ring with the same power.
Legacy
Considered a living legend of the golden age of Costa del Sol tablaos, his rediscovery at the 2007 Bienal Málaga en Flamenco restored the recognition of scholars, veterans and new generations of bailaores, who continue to see in him an irreplaceable figure of Málaga’s flamenco.