His name is Carmona, like his distant cousins of the Habichuelas dynasty of Granada, all guitarists. In 1963, one year after the exile, he was born in Lyons, France. Juan Carmona was barely 10 when his father gave him his first guitar. His virtuosity became quickly apparent to professional musicians and was only a matter of time before he began gathering international acclaim. Juan Carmona soon felt the urge to return to the land of his ancestors, to go back to his roots and imbibe again at the family spring - Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia - with a personal challenge: to revive recognition of the originality of his art in the town considered as the cradle of flamenco. And the wager was won: for more than eight years, he rubbed elbows with and accompanied the greatest names in flamenco, all the while immersing himself in their talents: singers Agujetas, Duquende, Antonio Canales.

In 1988, he was awarded first prize in the Jerez de la Frontera International Competition, and was a finalist in the Union and Cordoba Guitar Competition. In 1989, he obtained a diploma from the Jerez Flamenco Foundation, awarded by guitarist Manolo Sanlucar. In 1990. he won the Villa Médicis Hors Les Murs award, the Don Antonio Chacon trophy awarded by his “pena flamenca", and in 1992 the Lavoisier award. Finally, in 1994, he achieved the ultimate laureate: first prize in the Madrid de Paco de Lucia Competition.
Besides his many concert achievements, awards and relationships in the guitar world, this French-born gipsy can add a further distinction: permanent triumph in Spain. particularly in Andalusia where he has created upheaval in the world of flamenco. His stay in Spain gave birth to his recording “Borboreo" in tribute to the city of Jerez, under the artistic direction of Isidro Munoz.
Since his return to France in 1996, Juan Carmona has known an endless series of recordings and concert engagements. After working with a fabulous stream of musicians representing a wide range of musical genres: Biréli Lagrène; Larry Corriel to name just a few in the area of jazz: Subramanian and the Chemirani family in Indian and Iranian music: singer Matlubeth (Uzbekista); and participation in numerous film scores, (La belle Histoire, Cuisines et Dépendances, ,Sables Mouvants), Juan Carmona set up his own group: Juan Carmona Grupo. staging shows throughout France and abroad, forging himself an international musical career: USA, Germany, Italy, England, Morocco, Switzerland, Portugal, in addition to performances in major music festivals such as Midern (96) and Womex (97). A program was devoted to him on the Franco-German channel Arte in October 1998, presented by the maestro Lord Yehudi Menuhin, who considered Carmona to be an outstanding guitarist.
More recently: the guitarist has composed a new creation Sinfonia flamenco, performed by different orchestras (Russian Philarmony, Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra, of the Marseillc Opera...) and the Juan Carmona Grupo.
Juan Carmona has proven to be one of the most creative guitarists of the new flamenco generation. The performer has a surprising, moving quality: Somewhere between profound awareness of musical genres, traditional styles and a devastating modernity, Carmona stands as an innovator.