2016 - 2017 Bookings available!
September 14 - Ocean City  Arts Gala, OC, MD
September 17, 18 - MD Renaissance Festival
September 27- Kitchen of India, Parkville, MD - no cover!
October 15 and 16 - MD Renaissance Festival
October 22 - Fairy Scary Ball, Baltimore, MD
November 6 - FaerieCon, Hunt Valley, MD
We are ready to play at YOUR event!
Booking: Nina Amaya, ninadances@gmail.com

 Our first CD "Brinjal" is on sale for $10- take us home with you!

World Music band Brinjal plays pulsing and lyrical songs from Nations real and imagined, with a large dose of the exotic rhythms and enchanting melodies of the Middle East. We create our own songs, sometimes improvised on the spot, and are often accompanied by the beautiful dancers of Aubergine. We are available for local Baltimore shows and parties, and MD/VA/PA/DE festivals!  We have an excellent and entertaining multicultural educational show for schools and libraries. The exotic rhythms and unusual tonal scales of this danceable music fascinate young and old. 

Brinjal is based in Baltimore, Maryland, and plays a lively mix of originals and songs from Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Armenia, Israel, the Faerie Kingdom and more.

Reviews from GigSalad: Get in line to book them!!! You will not be sorry!!!Amazing, amazing band!!! Incredible entertainment!!! A group of very talented, creative, professional, very positive, wonderful people bring pure happiness, joy, warm and welcoming atmosphere whenever they go! I was lucky having them performing at my club a few times and can't wait to have them back!!!
Reviewer:Valeria T.    Event:Public Event in Baltimore, MD
Event Date:Mar 1, 2014
Hired As:Middle Eastern Entertainment, World Music Awesome experience!!!The Brinjal Band is a lovely band that makes you want to get up and dance along. I enjoyed them!!!!
Reviewer:Sue L.      Event:Festival in Paw Paw, WV
Event Date:Jun 21, 2014, Jun 20, 2015

The band began when Nina Amaya, a brilliant Baltimore belly dancer, was asked to perform and teach at a multi-day West Virginia music festival, and told to "bring some musicians with you." Nina Amaya wondered out loud in her dance troupe and on Facebook where she was going to find the musicians to join her in this well paying and awesome gig. The dance troupe, Aubergine, already had a drummer, and lo and behold! two dancers also played flute, and another member's boyfriend had been playing along to all her practice music on his guitar. We tried these five people together, and it sounded (and looked) beautiful! Since then, we have added another dancer as a drummer on the Djembe, another guitarist, and we are often joined by other guests. In the photo from the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, you can see Joffrey the Giant playing an instrument of his own invention, the overblatt.

Partial Set List (we are learning new songs at a rapid rate):
Ay Ya Zein -Arabic
Fire Dance - Turkish
Erev Shel Shoshanim - Israeli
Garoon   -  Armenian
Hadouni - Arabic
Hine Ma Tov - Israeli
Lama Bada Yata Thanna - Arabic
Layla- Egyptian
Laylet Hob- Egyptian
Mevlana-  Turkish
Miserlou,  Greek
Nihavent Oriental-  Turkish
Nihavent Oyun Havasi- Turkish
Rompe -Turkish 9/8
Siseler  Turkish
Shashkin Arabic
Sulukule-  Turkish 9/8
Uskadara  Turkish
Yesilem  Turkish

Drum solos - Heather has created quite a few, and sometimes she is joined by Amy and Nina on drum and riq

---

White Hart Tavern, MD Renaissance Festival, 2014

Pennsylvania Renaissance Festival, 2015

AvalonFest - our first gig!

Nina Amaya- Director, Principal Dancer, Riq, Finger Cymbals
Heather Amos- Darbuka (drum)
Illya Gemsdottir- Flute, Darbuka, Dancer
Amy Fae- Djembe, Dancer
John Sullivan, guitar
Jawhara Edwards- Musical Mentor, Flute, Melodica, Dancer


If you have already worked with Brinjal, please consider leaving us a short review at GigSalad. Thank you! We are a pretty new band, and can use some public feedback.

Brinjal with Aubergine guests at the NJ Ren Faire