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It was not an unfamiliar sight on area roads in the 1930s and during the war years in the 1940s: the car with the bass fiddle tied on the top.

That would be the Perez Orchestra on their way to play at a dance or some other function. We recently had an opportunity to visit with two Perez sisters, Mary Carbajal of Boling and Ignacia Martinez of Clovis, New Mexico, who with their brother, Domingo, or “Mingo” as he was known, sang with the band during its latter years.

Mary also played the bass fiddle and she and her sister recalled what a struggle it was to carry the large instrument up the steps to a second floor auditorium when playing in Refugio. Mary performed from when she was around 14 in the later 1930s until 1946 and Ignacia from 1942 until 1954.

Their father, Pedro, a member of the original family group, was 13-years-old when the orchestra was formed in 1893.

He was also the bandleader from early in the 1920s until his death in 1940, after which a son, Domingo, took over until going into the service in 1942. Dan Perez, a son of Pedro’s brother and original bandleader, Hipolito Perez, followed Domingo in that position. Domingo was killed while serving in Italy.

In addition to Pedro and Hipolito, the original Perez Orchestra in 1893 included their brothers Domingo and Esteban, along with friends Blas Falcon and Facundo Caceres. Two sisters of the Perez brothers, Isabel and Julia, sang with the early orchestra that was also known as the La Bahia Band or the La Bahia String Band.

It was their father, Encarnacion Cadenas Perez, a talented musician, who taught his children to play a variety of instruments and is said to have made them promise to continue the family’s musical tradition. The orchestra would span three generations and the tradition has continued ever since, with an interest in music among younger members of the family.

For many years, the family had a dance hall on the bluff above the San Antonio River at Goliad across the highway from Presidio La Bahia. It was there, in 1944, that the La Sociedad Mutualistic de Cuauhtemoc was formed, later to become the General Zaragoza Society.

The Perez family belonged to Our Lady of Loreto Chapel at La Bahia and performed with the choir. Hipolito’s youngest sister, Isabel Perez Salazar, was the last Perez to direct the chapel’s choir. Some say the sounds of the Perez Orchestra can still be heard on quiet nights within the walls of the chapel.

When not playing at Goliad, they would be on the road on weekends to Refugio, Victoria and other neighboring towns to play. In addition to the dances, weddings and other such functions, the Perez sisters particularly remember the big Fourth of July horse races on the Adler Ranch south of Victoria, playing for baseball games, serenading the wives and girlfriends of wealthy young men, and even playing for funerals. They would play in halls, homes, auditoriums, platforms, or even in a wide spot in the road.

One big annual event was La Bahia’s annual Fiesta de San Isidro for the patron saint of farmers, the annual feast having included a procession, mass, fiesta, and beauty pageant. Among those chosen queen were Ignacia Perez and another of Encarnacion’s granddaughters, Anita Salazar.

The orchestra played for First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt when she visited Victoria and Goliad and for prominent ranchman Al McFaddin’s 1903 wedding; also at such notable gathering places in Victoria as the Elks Lodge, Iroquois Club and Hauschild Opera House.

In his book, “A Musical Chronicle from the Historical Scrapbooks by Henry J. Hauschild,”the late Victoria historian described the Perez Orchestra as “Numero Uno Por Muchos Anos,” it being popular for so many years. The orchestra was known for composing and playing traditional Mexican music including waltzes, mazurkas and schottisches.

Hauschild Music Co. in 1907 published a mazurka composed by Hipolito Perez, the “Lupe Three Step.” Blas Falcon composed a waltz, “In Search of an Angel,” published in 1902, and Pedro Perez composed two unpublished waltzes, “Your Looks”and “Stephanie.”

Residents of Goliad enjoyed many pleasant evenings on their front porches or by open windows listening to the Perez Orchestra.

When practicing, their music could be heard from the hilltop across the river.

Henry Wolff Jr. is a longtime Victoria Advocate columnist. He can be reached at wolfhaus@txcr.net.