This article presents research on the Banda del Quinto Regimiento de Milicias Popu-lares, the band of the Republican Army’s Fifth Regiment of Popular Militias duringthe Spanish Civil War (1936–39) that reinvented itself as the Banda Madrid whileit proceeded toward exile in Mexico. I analyze documentation contained inSinaia:Diario de la primera expedición de republicanos españoles a México, a daily newsletterpublished on board the ship Sinaia, as well as interviews preserved in the collec-tion “Fondo de historia oral: Refugiados españoles en México,” housed at the Na-tional Institute of Anthropology and History in Mexico City. Through examinationof communication media and analysis of discourse, my study aims to illuminate themeanings constructed around this musical ensemble during its voyage to Mexicoaboard the Sinaia.Keywords:Spanish Civil War, exile, military band, Mexico