Autobiography. “El Medico” Raynier Casamayor Griñán

Born in Santiago de Cuba on 1/11/1975.

Raynier earned his stage name, El Medico, due to the fact he was a practicing physician in Cuba.  What a began as a life dedicated to medicine In 1996 studying at the # 1 Faculty of Medical Sciences of Santiago de Cuba, finally succumbed to a career in music and dance six about a dozen years later.  During his years of being a medical student, he developed a new and different artistic style, using and mixing dance, theater, song and humor while singing in public. This style of performance made him a very unique Reggae singer.

Raynier won the Golden Title in national University Student Federation (FEU) festivals in dance and singing as a soloist.  He also won Golden Title in the Provincial Festival of amateur artists of the FEU in theater and 2nd place in The Municipal Festival of theater for amateurs with the monologue "El Convoyero Amarillo”. In addition to recognition at the International Festival of University Theater, held in Santiago de Cuba.

As Raynier continued to appear in Rap clubs , he began developing a big fan base with his popular songs, and soon earned his nicknamed "EL MEDICO DEL RAP", due to his dual professions.. With the growing popularity and influence of Jamaican Reggae, Puerto Rican and Panamanian reggaetón, Raynier became a very popular performer who sang, danced and composed many songs in this rhythmic style..

In 2002, an Australian music producer with Petrol Records arrived in Santiago and discovered El Medico. Soon after El Medico recorded his first single, "El Tarru” Eyes That Don’t See" and “Whaa - My Life, My love”.  These songs became popular “chants/hymms” during the Santiago Carnival and throughout the eastern region of Cuba.  They were also two of the most popular Cuban reggaeton songs that year and recorded on CD and DVD  under the title of "Revolution" or "The Children of the Revolution”.  These compilation of songs belonged to the Movement "Santiago Rap" which was nominated for the Latin Grammys. Reaffirming himself as one of the pioneers of reggaeton in Cuba, The Doctor is considered in the company of the International reggaeton star from Santiago de Cuba, Candyman.

Upon completing his university studies and graduating as a Doctor of Medical Sciences in 2002, Raynier set off to fulfill his social service as a Cuban physician in the municipality of Guamá located in the mountains of the Sierra Maestra. While in residence in Guamá, Raynier was visited by Mr. Michel Miglis, president of"Topaz Records”, who made great efforts to find him and proposed to make a few demo recordings. The following morning, in an office located more than 13 kilometers from the nearest road, they made several recordings.  A few months later, Mr. Miglis returned and informed Raynier that the song "Chupa Chupa" released by WARNER MUSIC - SCANDINAVIA, had had great acceptance in Sweden and all of ​​Europe. 

That year, El Medico joined the project "CUBATON" which created an album with other groups of the genre and obtained 3 nominations for the 2005 Cubadisco awards. Several popular music videos were produced for : "Chupa Chupa”, "Pin Pon”, "Miss Fatty”, "I saw it”, "You are Beautiful" among others.

From 2006 to 2009, Raynier worked as a main character in the film “EL MEDICO- THE CUBATON STORY" by the Swedish director, Daniel Fridell in association with the Swedish firm "Topaz Sound." "ThIs is a film related to the new youth music of Cuba. The film project will provide an accurate and contemporary image of Cuban life that is often disparaged and misinterpreted abroad.  This film was released by several European and Latin America countries. and promoted with a clip of the song, "Bienvenido a Cuba”, which also featured the popular singer Haila Maria Mompie who accompanied Raynier as an interpreter.

In January of 2010, Raynier went on his first international promotional tour throughout Italy, Slovenia, Finland, Denmark, Hungary, Switzerland , Czech Republic, Spain, Germany and Sweden.  Raynier took up temporary residence in Sweden during his 10-month gig performing throughout Europe. During that time El Medico had the opportunity to perform with internationally renowned artists and DJ’s, including: Jamaican reggae artist, Benny Man, as well as Cuban salsa groups, Maikel Blanco and his salsa mayor. El Medico also performed as a singer Cuban Culture events in Finland and Sweden.  Performances at the latter took place at the Cuban Embassy in Sweden entertaining the ambassadors of Bolivia, Nicaragua and Cuba. Raynier returned to the island of Cuba on November 22nd of 2010.

In January 2011 “El Medico - THE CUBATON STORY" was shown at a Film festival in the city of Sweden (Gotenmborg), ranking #4 among the most popular of 400 participating films.  The  film has also been presented at multiple film festivals including: "Mar del Plata" in Argentina, "International Festival of Documentaries” in London, England, as well as festivals in the USA, Denmark, Korea, among others.  In January 2013, his film “El Medico - THE CUBATON STORY" was nominated for the Swedish Goldbaggen prize (Gold Scarab), in the category for best music, competing with popular artist such as Benny Anderson of the group ABBA from Sweden. In June 2013 Raynier participated in Cultural Gala against Global Warming, in Sweden.

At the beginning of 2014, "EL MEDICO - THE CUBATON STORY" was launched on Swedish TV channels. Raynier released his album "Avafortán" which in the summer of 2015.  At that time, he ventured into the world of video, making and editing his own music videos.  Through Avafortán and his music videos, EL Medico has once again regained the popularity he achieved in previous years, thanks to the singles, “Llego Papa”; “To’ eso es tuyo”y “Gallinas”. It is worth noting that the song, “To’ Eso Es Tuyo” was the official song of the 2015 Carnival in Santiago de Cuba.