CAMAGYEY.-When the troubadour Antonio Batista sings to his audience, he plays the truths that, he says, they do a musical. In his themes he pours the impressions on the soul will leave the female beauty, the streets of Camaguey, the chiaroscuro of life and love toward all that reason or person that led, spontaneously, by the way of the guitar.

"I am the oldest of four brothers and in my childhood I helped my mother doing chores at home. She suffered from epilepsy. Although I had an occupied childhood, I always found the time to play the ball and improvise rhythms, in a corner, with a can and a stick. In those years I was fascinated by the battery." But the musicality was almost a matter of genetics.

For Antonio are unforgettable days he sneaked on the sly, next to his mother, into the houses of culture and always for the same reason: a piano. In addition to the prank, which still takes some smiles- nothing seemed more fabulous to listen to than the notes born of the instrument. "Every time his hands roamed over the keys, she relaxed. I just looked at her and let the melody drag me.

"My aunt, Candita Batista, was also a versed on the piano. In the home of my paternal grandparents, there was one and I witnessed, from the warmth of the intimacy, their artistic abilities when she sang María la O or drume negrita. Of course, after my early twenties, I had the opportunity to see her in her presentations of Christ Street".

At 14, although he brought with him the music, he stopped thinking about it. In that turbulent phase, which is adolescence, he gave it of Jigoro Kano, and began practicing judo. Then, he tested with the karate and wanted to overcome to Gichin Funakoshi. "Despite the eventual step by martial arts and wishes to emulate his great teachers, I kept teachings as the discipline and peace of mind, indispensable at the time of composing a song".

It was 1986 and Antonio Batista left for Ukraine is an integral part, at the time of the Soviet Union. He arrive at Kharkov as a student of Chemical Engineering and returned to Cuba with the troubadour inserted in the spirit.

"In the former USSR, I made concrete my vocation. There, in the year '86, I participated in a Festival of the FEU made in Moscow, which paid tribute to the Nueva Trova. At that festival, I got the second place and they made me a member of that movement.

"After completing my social service in Moa, as a specialist in the quality control in the production of nickel and cobalt, I returned to Camagüey and I worked for a time in the laboratory Mambí, belonging to the Company of preserved foods and vegetables of the province. For those dates, I had already written some songs that roamed my mind for a time and I returned to the guitar".

The ties with his musical instrument had already created at the age of 15 years with the help of a master of the Casa de la Cultura Ignacio Agramonte Loynaz, located in La Vigía, known as Chapotin. The meeting of a melodic voice that will be commissioned César, professor of mathematics at the High School.

"In the year '97, a commission of Havana approved my entry to the center of the music and I obtained the permission as a professional musician. My group Trovarte, founded four years ago, I have done an extension of my soul and every Tuesday, from the Casa de la Trova, we present our chords, intended to move neurons and reflect on social topics.

"The troubadours, we must build our themes with poetry and avoid the expediency, the comfort. A song that causes me pride is Los imprescindibles (The essential ones), with it I expressed my sorrow for the death of the Commander-in-Chief, Fidel Castro and it was a modest gift to thank him for his imperishable work ".

Before acting, Antonio always notes to the audience. Always looking for the appropriate speech and try to spread the potential tensions. "The connection is critical," says while embraces his guitar, while the tap in silence, as a ritual that perpetuates an idyllic love.

Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez