Magaly Bernal in the heart of Matanzas Radio.

To say Magaly Bernal is to be sure that we are talking about Radio, about an artist with unsuspected talent and versatility, a woman actress or vice versa, who loved to the sincerity of her being, the art to which she gave her soul.

Magaly Bernal died this July 19, and listeners, viewers, co-workers know without further arguments than her life story, that the master of radio broadcasting and acting from Matanzas has left us physically.

Radio 26, the house where she made her professional dreams come true and consolidated a family of creators, pays tribute to the National Radio Award winner with the work of journalist Liannys Díaz Fundora, entitled «The two lives of Magaly Bernal».

She grew up believing that she had many other people inside, she just had to get them to come out. As a little girl she pirouetted in front of the mirror disguised in whatever clothes she could find. She liked to kill in the street, as much or more than playing dolls. At the same time, the world of art attracted the attention of that restless girl who showed special interest in the cultural life of the Athens of Cuba.

«I felt I was an artist when I didn’t get three quarters of the way off the floor, I think that happens to all actors. I needed to be discovered or to make them discover me, and that’s how what I call monería began, to stand out so that they would notice me.

«I liked to declaim and sing. In school I always gravitated toward that kind of thing. My Spanish teacher said I was a very good performer. When I had to read a story where several characters appeared, I changed their voices. This is how actress Magaly Bernal Hernández tells how she began her inclination for one of her passions.

She speaks slowly, arranges her auburn hair, tinged with the snow of the years, and searches in the book of her memories for the exact moments to narrate them to me.

«My older brother, Armando Crespo Hernández, is an actor and director, and that’s why I was lucky enough to be involved in that artistic environment that was emerging in Cuba’s Athens. I asked him to take me to Sauto Theater to see if I could become a singer. In the end, I gave him so much, that about three months later he took me. I had a song more than crushed, so the guitarists of Trio Castillo were crazy about me», Magaly tells with an enviable naturalness. She seems to be there, in the middle of an audition. Her nerves return and she smiles.

«I started going with my brother to rehearsals with the trio. He was usually getting ready for a staging or had classes at the acting academy. When he was done I would go and wait for him. One day the teacher asked who I was and invited me in». At that moment, when she was only 11 or 12 years old, the future actress received her first lesson.

Later she also took piano lessons and was part of a dance group. In continuous attempts to prove her talent as an actress, she took every aptitude test she could find.

«When I arrived there were no places for Drama, but I took the test nonetheless. I also took the voice-over exam and passed both. That’s how I started in that medium as a voice-over artist at first. Then I played some secondary roles with the stage group. My first leading role was Tristana, by Benito Pérez Galdós.

«We had Armando Soler as an advisor when the Dramatic Theater was founded. That was a wonderful period. The staff of Radio Progreso, among them artists of the stature of Fela Hart, Aurora Pita and Raúl Celis, helped us a lot during that stage.»

My admiration for Magaly Bernal was born years ago, when I used to listen to her credit in radio soap operas, humor shows, peasant programs and newscasts. I recognized her voice immediately. La Bernal, as she tells, came to interpret up to nine voices in the same space.

«When I started at Radio 26 I worked as a reporter, so I also learned about journalism. The advantage of working in a provincial radio station is that, due to a problem of necessity, it makes you versatile. So I am an announcer, actress, director and scriptwriter.

«I enjoy directing, although acting is more to my liking. The best thing I achieved in directing was learning. When you listen and point out it’s incredible the satisfaction you feel when you achieve a good result.

«I have been doing radio for more than 50 years and it has been a magnificent experience. Acting and interpreting were my life, I never imagined I would get involved in that world, radio traps you».

This lady looks like an encyclopedia where you immerse your attention and on each page you discover something new and striking. She smiles a lot and her eyes shine, she infects you with her good vibes like those Sunday mornings when she played the jokes in the humorous space of Radio 26.

«Actually, all the programs in which I have participated satisfy me, but undoubtedly the children’s ones are my favorites. I’ve been Aunt Magalys, Grandma Tita, the güije Tintineo… In each character I work hard as if it were the first one I played.

Magaly, (second person from left to right) with her colleagues from Radio 26. Photo: Courtesy of the interviewee.

«Halfway through my work at the station I used to say that Radio 26 was my second home, but today I can say that it is my first. I think I did everything I wanted, I feel proud of my work.

I would have loved to do movies, but I don’t feel frustrated, what I have done in radio acting solves everything else. Magalys has given it her all,» she tells me. «There are people who don’t like to share what they know: the opposite is true for me, I like to help others grow and improve, I’m proud of it

Magalys Bernal professes immense respect for the work of the media to which she has devoted her life.She has received awards for narration of programs in different National Festivals of Cuban Radio and as an actress she has received awards for leading and supporting roles, as well as for directing humorous and dramatized programs. She also received the National Radio Award 2018. She has five Caricato awards to her credit. However, according to her, she has never worked for awards.

«Radio makes you be in people’s daily lives, no matter if they are taking a bath or cooking. Radio is and will be the one, no other medium will be able to surpass it. For me the greatest merit is in touching the sensibility».