Plaid Menagerie

• Nanette Fynan - Fiddle, Violin
• Ben - Keyboard
• Phillip Fynan - Bagpipe, recorder, whistl

Is it an Irish band ye be needin' for St. Patrick's Day? Sure and we'll play ye a Fynan Dandy tune. A Scottish Ceilidh band that will raise the roof? Aye, we've got that covered. Will ye be needin' a band for your Pirate Fest? Tis a Pirate Band we be. A bit of Auld Lang Syne for New Years? We'll play in the best New Year you'll ever have. Amazing Grace for the beautiful bride? Scotland The Brave for your processional? Renaissance elegance for your gallery opening or real estate open house is also in our realm. Plaid Menagerie plays for all occasions, sacred, solemn or joyful. The band has played in a variety of venues; museums, parties, dances and farmer's markets. We do a show for Scottish Games with exciting Cape Breton Step Dancing.

The Plaid Menagerie changes it's style to suit every occasion. We can be fully amplified, playing rousing dance music or we can be acoustic in small quiet settings. We provide our own amplification equipment and we can provide a dance caller.

The Exuberance of Celtic Music

Makes People Happy

In Santa Rosa, California and Beyond...

From Barb in Michigan:

"Plaid Menagerie made our wedding so meaningful and enjoyable! All of our guests have contacted us to tell us how special the music was and how truly beautiful it made our wedding! We went on our first date to a Highland Festival and the Celtic atmosphere created by Plaid Menagerie was truly awesome and meaningful to us both! Everyone was moved by bagpipes playing "Scotland the Brave" for the processional. I was especially moved by the fact that they learned "In my Life", to play before the ceremony started. My family is a bunch of Beatles fans and we all thought it was great! Besides being truly talented, Plaid Menagerie are professional and really nice people!"

From Anne in Michigan:

"No complaints; very good performance for our wedding ceilidh, very accommodating. Nanette & band kept us up to speed with their preparations, asked us lots of questions, found us a dance caller, played fitting and fun music for all components of our reception--helped make it a wonderful experience at a very good price. Would recommend them to anyone looking to hire a small group for Celtic music & dancing."

A review of our performance April 2, 2011:

Dan Blake of SCOE wrote, "I received extremely positive feedback from attendees on the day of the event, and I am continuing to receive emails from people expressing what a great time they had with their children. From the wide range of creative exhibits and activities to the terrific musicians to the tasty hot dogs, I couldn't have been happier with how it all came together.

A review of April 10, 2011:

Mari Lancaster of the Japan Relief Fundraiser wrote, "Nanette, thank you very much for your help! Your music was exquisite! And everyone else did wonderfully. What made me happy the most is that so many people showed their support by being there at the event. I just don't know how to express my appreciation...!!"



Review of April 9, 2011 Ukiah Contra Dance:

Ulla Brunnbert-Rand, dance programmer wrote, "It sounded great...People had a great time."

Our previous appearances include:

Sonoma County Museum,
Cloverdale Library, Cloverdale California,
Dempsey's Restaurant and Brewery, Petaluma California,
Santa Rosa Farmer's Market,
Sebastopol Herb Festival,
Monterey Highland Games with MacIntosh Pipe Band,
San Rafael Contra Dance with Frank Ferrel,
Performed Background Music for California State Training Video,
Noon Entertainment at SRJC Petaluma,
Santa Rosa Kids Mini-Makers Faire,
Ukiah Contra Dance,
Japan Relief Fundraiser,
Sebastopol English Country Dance,

We are solidly trained in both classical and folk music. As a group of traditional Celtic musicians, we have also performed Sacred music and at Scottish Games. We have performed Early Music, Renaissance and Medieval with a recorder ensemble.

We try to maintain an amplified sound that duplicates our acoustic sound. We have quality instruments and value that. We provide our own sound equipment. Phillip does some dancing and does play great highland bagpipe. We alternate fiddle sets with piping and dancing for interest. Our tunes are quite energetic and the performers require some breaks between sets, but we try to maintain the momentum. We relish the opportunity to wear costumes for events that have themes, such as Renaissance, Pirate, Scottish, Irish.

• Tamlin - Trad Irish
• The Torrent - Muriel Johnstone
• Iggy and Squiggy - Jerry Holland
• Oogly Googly - Vishten
• Fair Jenny's Jig - Peter Barnes
• Spin 'n' Glo - Frank Ferrel
• Amazing Grace - Trad Scots
• Scotland the Brave - Trad Scots

Anniversaries, Banquets, Birthday Parties, Children's Birthday Parties, Celebrations, Christenings, Christmas Parties, Church Services, Clubs, Community Events, Conventions, Corporate Functions, Dinner Dances, Events, Festivals, Fund Raisers, Funerals, Graduation Parties, Grand Openings, Picnic, Private Parties, Proms, Restaurants, Reunions, School Assemblies, Sweet 16 Parties, Weddings, Wedding Ceremonies, Wedding Cocktail Hours, Wedding Receptions...and more.

• No complaints; very good performance for our wedding ceilidh, very accommodating. Nanette & band kept us up to speed with their preparations, asked us lots of questions, found us a dance caller, played fitting and fun music for all components of our reception--helped make it a wonderful experience at a very good price. Would recommend them to anyone looking to hire a small group for Celtic music & dancing. -- Anne T, Cadillac, MI, 3/17/2012
• Plaid Menagerie made our wedding so meaningful and enjoyable! All of our guests have contacted us to tell us how special the music was and how truly beautiful it made our wedding! We went on our first date to a Highland Festival and the Celtic atmosphere created by Plaid Menagerie was truly awesome and meaningful to us both! Everyone was moved by bagpipes playing "Scotland the Brave" for the processional. I was especially moved by the fact that they learned "In my Life", to play before the ceremony started. My family is a bunch of Beatles fans and we all thought it was great! Besides being truly talented, Plaid Menagerie are professional and really nice people! -- Barbara V, Bath, MI, 4/21/2012

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• Plaid Menagerie — Florissant, Missouri