Virtuoso clarinetist, composer, bandleader, choir director, musical arranger, teacher and…oh, yes, shoemaker! Don Trinidad Concha left his position as Assistant Director of Porfirio Diaz’ Mexican Military Band, moved to El Paso and helped shape the early years of music in the city.
His musical service ran the gamut. He led the city’s first Mexican Típica Orchestra, was the music arranger for the locally famous McGinty Band and formed Concha’s Mexican Concert Band. The Concert band traveled throughout the region playing classical music that appealed to both cultures on the border and promoted El Paso. He organized and directed children’s choirs
and bands at St. Ignatius school in later years, touring with the school’s Boys’ Band as far away as Chicago and many in between.
Image caption: Trinidad Concha (Photo courtesy of Cinco Puntos Press)
Trinidad Concha was born in 1862 in Guanajuato, Mexico, and trained as a shoemaker. As part of the Mexican Military Band, he toured the U.S. in 1893-1894. The last stop before heading back to Mexico City was El Paso. According to David Romo in Ringside Seat to a Revolution,violoncello player Charles Rokahr asked him to arrange music for the McGinty Band and offered him a position in his boot shop. After he was denied permission and warned that leaving the Mexican band would make him a deserter, Concha and his family moved to El Paso anyway. He joined his brother and fellow musician, Melitón Concha, a barber and landlord in the city since 1886. Census records show the family moved to El Paso in 1894, and the first (of many) newspaper mentions of Concha was for playing a clarinet solo for a St. Patrick’s Day celebration in 1895.
Señor Concha established El Paso’s first Mexican Típica Orchestra around 1896, which rehearsed in the back room of Melitón’s barbershop at 417 South El Paso Street. An orquesta típica is a smaller string orchestra, comprised of usually five to seven musicians, centered around a violinist, who plays folk music associated with rural mestizo populations. In his book Mexican American Orquesta, Manuel Peña wrote that during this time “many Latin American elites were smitten by costumbrismo, or the desire to experience an invented ‘national’ culture as attributed to the common folk.” The rougher music was smoothed to fit elite tastes, which led to nationalist and local típicas being established throughout the region. The costumes of the elite groups and their songs are similar to that of mariachi.
Tenor sax player Melitón joined his brother in the típica. Most of the musicians worked in the cigar factories, a major El Paso industry, and a few were professional musicians. According to a 1950 El Paso Times article, most picked up music by ear and didn’t set out to make money. They went “traveling from house to house, wherever the occasion demanded music.” A band member still living remembered their pride for their performance at the Myar’s Opera House to celebrate 16 de septiembre, or Mexican Independence Day, covered by the El Paso Herald. That year they also serenaded Mexican Consul Francisco Mallen with a 28-piece típica and played for the Knights of Pythias. Historian Romo writes that one of Concha’s compositions, De Torreón a Lerdo, “is still played by mariachi and norteño groups today.”
Concha established Concha’s Mexican Concert Band around 1898, per Romo. It included 12 men formerly with Diaz’ band, and his son David and his brothers Rafael, Jesus and Melitón. The band ranged from a sextet to a 40-piece brass band. They played “Mexicanized European music,” such as waltzes, mazurkas, polkas and operas. Concha’s Band played at the grand opening of the Hotel Orndorff in June 1899, providing ballroom dancing until midnight. Alzina Orndorff DeGroff and her husband had remodeled the existing Vendome hotel to open the Orndorff. Decades later, she built the iconic hotel that is now the Cortez Building on the same site.
An August 1899 article on one of the band’s outdoor performances stated, “Long before the hour of starting, every available seat in the plaza was occupied, and carriages of every description lined the streets two and three deep.” Outdoor music was common entertainment in that time before television and radio. Over the years, there was a struggle to find funding for these free concerts; funds were solicited from business owners, railroad tycoons and various unions. Finally, after multiple public petitions, the City Council took on the responsibility, but not consistently. Mrs. DeGroff was a patron of the band, encouraging subscribers to donate to provide public music in the plaza Thursdays and Sundays throughout the summer in 1902. In honor of Mrs. DeGroff, the band played on the hotel’s balcony in July of that year.
The band played at other kinds of events: Elks conventions, Democratic rallies, anti-gambling meetings, both Mexican and American patriotic events, graduations, Woman’s Club festivities, funerals of distinguished Mexican leaders from El Paso, midwinter carnivals and parades.
One of the parades was a large Labor Day parade in 1902. As was common in cities at that time, workers from various unions marched in the parade and bands. Concha’s Band had a prominent spot right after the parade marshal and his aides. The El Paso Herald wrote, “Next came Concha's Mexican band in uniforms of spotless white and black caps. This band, always so popular in El Paso, surpassed itself on this occasion in the beautiful music rendered.” The parade was followed by festivities in Washington Park, in its current location near the zoo in what then was El Paso’s far east side. Races, picnics, ball games and dancing filled the day, and Concha’s Band provided the music. According to Esteban Vasquez in a Password 2012 article, “[Washington] Park was an oasis where individuals could… relax among many trees and flora, or peacefully row a boat in a lake surrounded by trees.” Streetcars ran multiple times an hour from downtown to the park.
In December of that year, an article ran in the El Paso Herald stating that a musicians’ union was set up with 41 members, including all city musicians, except for Concha’s Band. Concha and manager Frank Alderete said they were “both in favor of the move.”
Late in December, newspaper articles reported union members didn’t want Concha’s Band to march in the January midwinter carnival parade because they weren’t in a union. Wilson’s Band in particular was upset. The carnival was a multi-day event with mining competitions and visitors and bands from Arizona, New Mexico, El Paso and Juarez. The accompanying ball was the social event of the season.
Image caption: Trinidad Concha’s Historical Marker (Photo by Rachel Murphree)
Alderete responded, "The reason we did not go into the other union is because we were never asked to come in until after every other musician in El Paso and Juarez had been asked to join, and we naturally felt a little sore over the treatment and organized a union of our own.” He said their union had about 35 members and all but one lived and spent money in El Paso. Their regular rate was $50, and they did not undercut other bands. They took less for a donation to a group without enough money or for an influential person that would benefit the city. That union was the Sociedad Mutualista Filarmónica, which was one of many Mexican societies that also provided leadership and death benefits to families, per Mario García in the book Desert Immigrants.
After the back and forth of newspaper articles, the carnival was a success, even though snow and sleet came on one day. The bands all came out and rallied the attendees to brave the cold. The sun came out later in the day because it is El Paso! The El Paso Herald labeled it “quite a coincidence” when Wilson’s Union Band and Concha’s Band played in plazas near each other because the bands had not been “very friendly of late.”
Concha’s Band commonly accompanied dignitaries and delegations to and from the train station and played at conventions in other states to help promote the city. In September 1903, El Paso leaders went to the National Irrigation Conference in Ogden, Utah, and brought Concha’s Band to help persuade the association that El Paso should host the following year. The $1,100 for the band’s salaries was paid largely by the Mexican Consul and businessman Felix Martinez. With the headline “Concha Band Strong Card,” the El Paso Times reported that 5,000 people came out to watch the band play in Ogden.
The Knights Templar of San Francisco learned of Concha’s Band because of their Utah performance and booked them for a conclave in September 1904. The band toured for a month through California. The El Paso Herald then suggested that the citizens provide new uniforms for the band and a banner advertising the irrigation conference in El Paso to publicize the city further.
In November 1904, the National Irrigation Conference was held successfully in El Paso, and Concha’s Band opened the proceedings, playing the Star Spangled Banner. The band made a similar trip in 1914 to advertise El Paso to the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Convention to secure hosting privileges.
It appears as though the band was not supplied new uniforms to go to San Francisco because the following year they were fundraising for them. In July 1905, the Herald reported that Concha’s Band was “just about the busiest organization in El Paso this summer.” They played twice-weekly concerts in the plaza, three nights a week at Washington Park and at single-night events. Alderete was ordering “natty new suits” for the musicians. Even with all their success, the newspaper reported in June 1906 that the city council had no money in the budget for them or the Diaz Band. During these years, Concha’s Band started accompanying motion pictures at the Crawford Theater downtown and playing at political rallies, ball games and traveling to play in Mesilla Park, Las Cruces and Cloudcroft.
1909 brought new experiences for Concha and the City. The Choral Society planned a spring festival with four invited soloists and expected to hire the Chicago Symphony, but they could not be secured. A local orchestra was assembled from the ranks of Concha’s Band and led by Professor J. B. Kendig to rave reviews from the El Paso Herald over four days of coverage. The opening day headline was “El Paso Symphony Orchestra is a Hit,” and the article read: “Every doubt as to the ability of the local orchestra was dispelled with the rendering of the opening selection. The 40 Mexicans under the leadership of Prof. Kendig seemed to realize the responsibility placed on them for the success of the festival…. The playing of the local musicians was a surprise even to the members of the Choral Society, and they applauded the efforts of the musicians as loudly as the audience.” All the members of the Society were listed by name at the end of the very long article.
On the third day, the self-funded Choral Society capitalized on the expansive coverage of the two-day festival and appealed to have permanent funding and reduce its deficit. On the fourth day an article entitled “Musicians Contributed Much to the Success of the Big Production” listed all the members of Concha’s Band. The article began: “The members of Concha's Band, who participated in the music festival as members of the Symphony Orchestra, worked hard to help make the music festival a success. They appreciate the fact that the festival promoters desired to make it an all-home institution and express a willingness to lend their aid. The same men will play free on this afternoon in the plaza for the benefit of the Y. W. C. A. work, and they have always been ready to do their share for El Paso.”
The articles mentioned that the orchestra was such a “pleasing surprise” that it would be “a shame if El Paso does not keep it together.” Perhaps not coincidentally, the El Paso Symphony Orchestra was established two years later. The Symphony celebrates its 90th anniversary this year (see the article on the Symphony in this issue of Borderlands).
In October 1909, U.S. President William Howard Taft met with Mexican President Porfirio Diaz in El Paso and Juárez in an historic first. In a 1958 Password article, Charlotte Crawford described it as a "veritable pageant of military splendor, social brilliance, courtly formality, official protocol and patriotic fervor." The headline for the El Paso Times on October 16th read, “The Eyes of the World Are Focused on El Paso Today.” Concha’s Band led the third brigade of civic organizations in the parades. When interviewed for a 2012 El Paso Inc. article, his granddaughter Alicia Concha said the band played the American and Mexican national anthems, as well as two of Concha’s compositions, “On the Shores of the Rio Grande” and “Through El Paso.” He did not visit Juárez during the festivities.
Concha did not step foot on Mexican soil until he took his band to the Francisco Madero Camp opposite the smelter before the Battle of Juárez on April 16, 1911. For two and a half hours, the band serenaded the troops and the other leaders, such as Pancho Villa, Pasqual Orozco and Colonel Garibaldi. The event was only scheduled for an hour, but the thousands of Mexicans and Americans in attendance kept asking for encores. According to the El Paso Times, the “footbridge which spans the Rio Grande opposite the smelter groaned under the weight of the great crowds passing from the American side.” Per historian David Romo, this musical tribute to the insurrectionists was the first time Concha had set foot in Mexico for 15 years. “He’d been afraid of being arrested as a deserter.”
Image caption: St. Ignatius Church (Photo by Rachel Murphree)
Just as he supported the civic life of his birth country, Concha was involved in the civic life of his adopted community and his church. In April 1905, the newspapers reported “prominent Mexican citizens” signed an open letter to Mayor Morehead to fortify the levee or “fix the ditch” before the first and second wards of the city were flooded. This was an ongoing problem until the erection of the Elephant Butte Dam later in the 20th century. Concha signed on behalf of the Sociedad Mutualista Filarmónica. In 1910, he joined other citizens and made a speech before City Council for a second time to protest the foul-smelling stock pens in those wards.
Mario Garcia wrote that Concha was hired to assemble a girls’ orchestra soon after St. Ignatius school opened in 1905; the group played a concert in 1908. Over the years he set up many children’s bands, orchestras, and choirs and became the church musical director. The newspaper coverage then focused largely on Concha’s musical activities at St Ignatius.
With the growth of the congregation, the existing church was built in 1913. It was the first church in the city to have central heating, stated the El Paso Museum of History’s DIGIE.org. Garcia wrote: “St. Ignatius contained 650 Mexican students in 1917 and represented the largest parochial school in El Paso…. It contained eleven classrooms plus an auditorium and represented one of El Paso’s most modern schools.” Parochial students often came from slightly better-off Mexican families, who were refugees from the war in Mexico and could afford to pay the tuition. In March 1919, a musical program directed by Concha inaugurated the new 650-seat school auditorium in the building designed by Mexican architect M. L. Cardona.
The mass for the feast of Santa Cecilia, the patron saint of music, was a beloved annual occurrence at St. Ignatius and the other Catholic parishes of the city. Another well-known musician, Rayo Reyes (see article on Rayo Reyes in this issue of Borderlands), directed the orchestra for one performance. Miss Mateus directed the choir and Concha was the overall music director. The choir swelled from 24 voices in 1917 to 60 singers in just two years.
In December 1920, the El Paso Herald announced that “El Paso has a boys’ choir of 50, of whom 15 are girls, as somebody expressed it, and next month at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cathedral the choir is going to give its initial concert, with accompaniment of pipe organ and an orchestra of 25.” The concert took place in mid-January, and the newspaper wrote, “The effect was magnificent and equal to the best choir work El Paso knows. This is all the more remarkable in that the choir has only been together for a few weeks, and the music was entirely unfamiliar to the orchestra at the start.” The choir was composed of Spanish-speaking adults and children and directed by Concha with the help of Miss Mateus and the orchestra conducted by Reyes.
DIGIE.org has a photo from 1913 of the St. Ignatius Catholic Church Girls’ String Band. Garcia said a similar group appeared in local concerts by 1908. In April 1923, the El Paso Herald wrote an article about the debut concert of the stringed orchestra where Concha’s composition
Remembrance, a Mexican serenade, was played. The women’s chorus accompanied the orchestra, and “both the orchestra and the chorus are composed of working girls, who find time after work to practice…they often remain at practice until 12 p.m.,” according to the Rev. Fr. Carmen Tranchese, priest of that parish.
Image caption: Club de San Ignacio (Photo courtesy of the University of Texas Library, Special Collections, Stout Feldman Collection)
Concha’s granddaughter Alicia said about her grandfather and great uncle Melitón: “They would go around the neighborhood, taking boys off the streets of South El Paso to join the church's Boys Club and teach them to play an instrument.” Often these skills led the boys to employment and improved their lives. In 1912, a boys’ group from Sacred Heart Parish moved to St. Ignatius because they were too noisy at their home parish. It was the beginning of the Boys Band that became nationally famous. An August 1923 article on the concert stated that the band of boys seven to 16 years old began four months earlier. Concha had to start out teaching the boys the fundamentals of music but they made quick strides.
In 1925, the Boys Band traveled to Miami, Arizona, for a six-day trip where the band was the feature of the celebration of the 115th anniversary of Mexico’s independence. In a “Miami Memories” 1975 article, the Arizona Silver Belt reprinted the article from the time describing the 48-member band as “one of the best along the frontier.”
In June 1926, the band had its most extensive tour and national exposure. The boys played at the Eucharist Conference in Chicago, Illinois, with an expected attendance of over one million Catholics. It was the first time in its 28-year-old history that the conference was held in the United States. The local papers reported that the 50-member band would lead the Latin section in the opening. The Brooklyn, New York, Tablet reported that in Chicago they would “meet the Spanish cardinal and his party and escort them from the train to the Cathedral.” On their return journey, the band expected to play concerts in Kansas City, Topeka and Amarillo to help fund the over $5000 trip; the band had such publicity, they had to refuse requests to perform. The Chamber of Commerce gave the boys spending money for the trip. What an exciting and life-changing experience! On their return, they played at Washington Park to aid the Milk Fund, which fed undernourished children. The El Paso Herald article on the event included praise for their success in Chicago, saying it was due to the “size of the boys composing the organization and the high grade of the music they rendered.”
Local newspapers also showed details of Concha’s work and home life. In 1903 he was first issued a permit to build an adobe residence for $1,000 at Virginia and 5th streets (now Father Rahm). In 1910, he purchased the land for $950, and in 1911, he was granted a permit to build a five-room brick residence at that corner estimated to cost $1,700. He moved into the residence with his family in 1913. The El Paso Inc. 2012 article stated, “In the 1890s, South Virginia Street was in the heart of El Paso's downtown residential district, a wooded area at the time.” In 2011 the Texas Historical Commission installed an historical marker at his residence at 621 S. Virginia.
In November 1922, the papers reported that after a decades-long association, shoemakers and musicians Concha and Rokahr formed a partnership. Rokahr was well known through the southwest as a bootmaker with many patents to his name. Concha retired four years later, ending the partnership.
Image caption: Trinidad Concha with his grandchildren (Photo courtesy of El Paso, Inc.)
In December 1927, the El Paso Times published a lengthy article with photos entitled, “How a Retired El Paso Businessman Spends His Well-Earned Leisure Time.” The article begins, “Since he’s retired from active business, Trinidad Concha only works18 hours a day!” Speaking of the early days, Concha said, “El Paso was like a big family and when a couple got married, the town didn’t wait for invitations. The band marched down and played, stopping long enough for the ceremony if they felt like it. There was more fun in those days.” Since retirement, he was devoting his days to the musical program at St. Ignatius, which at the time had a senior band, a junior band, an orchestra, a choir and a children’s chorus.
Sadly, several years later, sorrow came to the Concha family, beginning with the death of his brother Melitón in 1929 and his wife, Jovita, in 1931. In April 1933, Concha passed away, less than a year after his famous Boys Band played a concert celebrating their 10th anniversary. The couple had eight children, 18 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, some of whom still reside in the area. Prominent musician McGinty Band member “Capitan” Francisco Escontrías passed away a month later, and his connection with Concha was mentioned in his obituary. It was the passing of an era.
Reporter and future newspaper editor H.D. Slater wrote in remembrance in the April 1933 El Paso Times: “The death of Trinidad Concha marks the end of more than 40 years of devoted service to the cause of good music in El Paso, more especially, good music in church, and to worthy entertainment.” The El Paso Inc. article stated, “Whether one calls Trinidad Concha the musical cobbler or professor, it's clear he became one of the most influential and respected Mexican-American performers in El Paso at the turn of the century and a valuable member of the community.” We are so fortunate that Don Trinidad Concha found his way to El Paso!
tags: Biography
Música Tejana
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