The clarinet had never sounded so cool when Melissa Murphey heard a band mixing its sound with Middle Eastern "gypsy" music. The self-proclaimed former "high school band dork" who played clarinet liked what she heard so much that she rounded up three people and started the belly-rock band Ishtar. The band added a fifth member, on electric guitar, last year to round out its sound. "We're not taking away from the music," Murphey said. "We're making it available to the Eastern ear."
Question: What is belly rock?
Answer: It's classic belly dance music with a twist. An electric guitarist puts the rock in belly rock.
Q: How did you first get started playing clarinet?
A: Representatives from the only music store in the area came to my elementary school (in Butler County) and gave the entire fifth-grade class an exam to see if we were musically inclined. They sent home each student with a permission slip, and my mom sent me to school the next day with a note that said she wanted me to play the flute. The guy from the music store said my mouth wasn't shaped right for the flute and gave me a clarinet.
Q: And from there, how did you start Ishtar?
A: I played clarinet for years but completely stopped playing after high school. I went to college, got a job and life got in the way. I worked at Sam Goody in Oakland selling other people's music. But one summer I was at Pennsic, which is like a big renaissance festival, at Cooper's Lake Campground in Butler. I heard an all-male band playing with these women dancing, and there was a clarinet in the band. Once you're out of school, the outlet for clarinet playing is limited, so when I heard them I said I wanted to be in a band that plays that.
Q: What makes Ishtar different from classic Middle Eastern bands?
A: We play traditional belly dance songs with three-fifths traditional instruments. Two-fifths of the instruments -- the bass and electric guitar -- are nontraditional. It makes it fresh and different. It's something the average Pittsburgher has never heard before.
Q: How do you make the music sound good while staying true to the original music?
A: It's really trial and error. Middle Eastern music is not chord driven. It's a melody, and it's played in unison. The variety of instruments and how they're played are what give the music a fuller sound. Some songs that didn't look like they'd work have worked for us, while others looked great on paper but don't sound good when we actually play them.
Q: Is there a reason why you decided to call the sound "classic belly dance rock" or "belly rock?"
A: "Middle Eastern music" is a very serious sounding phrase. In this day and age, it carries with it a negative connotation and feels a little ominous sounding, especially since 9/11. "Belly rock" gets people asking questions and wondering what kind of music it is. There aren't too many catch-all phrases to describe our music. People will tend to lump you in with whatever they define you as.
Q: Do you always have a belly dancer at your performances?
A: Not always. I like the band to stand on its own. We usually play a mix of songs that give dancers the opportunity to dance, but sometimes the place we're playing is dark and the dancer wouldn't stand out. Sometimes our songs change tempo too often to make them good for dancers, and some of our songs are just too long to have someone to dance to.
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