Alter Ego is a trio founded in 2004 in Santa Clara, under the direction of Diego Santiago. It is a project belonging to the Hermanos Saíz Association and has been linked to A tempo con Caturla since its inception.

The trio is made up of Esther Martínez (guitar), Edel Hernández (tres) and Diego Santiago (lute).

This trio has adapted Cuban popular music to instruments typical of rural culture, primarily used in Cuban peasant and traditional music. Their distinctive characteristic is the interpretation of Cuban musical genres with diverse sounds, both classical and popular. They use popular rhythms such as Son, Guajira, Cha-cha-chá, and Guaracha. They create a type of music called Música Popular Concertante.

Their repertoire consists solely of Cuban works, including pieces such as No quiero juego con tu marido, by Alejandro García Caturla, which they perform in their own style, with an introduction, maintaining the body of the dance, to the rhythm of a Cha-Cha-Cha and then returning to the theme.

In January 2008, they performed at the National Museum of Fine Arts theater (Trocadero Street between Zulueta and Monserrate Streets, Old Havana, Havana), sponsored by the Pablo de la Torriente Brau Cultural Center and maestro Víctor Casaus. That same year, they performed at the 12th A Tempo Concert Music Festival with Caturla in the capital of Villa Clara, where they kicked off the event.

They participated in one of the continent’s most important festivals, Guitarras del Mundo, in 2008. They have also represented Cuba at other events such as the Guitarras de América festival.

They’ve taken their music to foreign venues, such as Chile, where they performed in more than 10 cities in 2009.

Alter Ego performed a concert called Buscando rutas (Looking for Routes) at the A guitarra limpia space on its twelfth anniversary.

Their first album, titled Sones y Flores, released on the Cuban label EGREM, was produced by Eduardo Martín. It includes works by Cuban composers such as Caturla and Amadeo Roldán, and Eduardo Martín, among others. The latter is the composer of a large part of the repertoire performed by the trio on the album.