Loading...
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Website: www.ishtar-music.com
Sounds Like: Dick Dale, il Troubadore
Genre: World
Since 2006, Ishtar has been Pittsburgh's Vintage Bellydance Band. Ishtar is comprised of Melissa Murphey on clarinet and Jeff Chmielarski on electric bass, Geoff Thomas on darbuka, Owen Dougan-Bascha on cajon, and Goldie Segol on violin.
Playing their own unique interpretation of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean folk melodies, Ishtar performs songs that were popular in the bellydancing nightclub scene during the mid-20th century. This exceptional fusion of traditional songs with surf rock elements has become: BellyRock.
In 2008, Ishtar was voted as Pittsburgh's Best Underground Band by the readers of the City Paper!
The band has performed at several local Pittsburgh locations: The Warhol Museum, The Brillobox, Club Café, Zenith, The Sphinx Cafe, Backstage Bar, Khalil's, Shadow Lounge, The Altar Bar, Your Inner Vagabond, The 31st Street Pub, Howler's Coyote Cafe, Gooski's, Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, The Thunderbird Cafe, Modern Formations Gallery, Azure Cafe, Papa Davinci's Kitchen, Istanbul Sofra, Istanbul Grille, Mr Small's Theater and Starwood Festival 2021.
Ishtar completed a two week tour to New Orleans with stops in Greenbelt MD, Richmond VA, Athens GA, Raleigh-Durham NC and Cincinnati OH.
Ishtar was featured as the house band for the Tap Root Public House Bellydance show with Rabia in Anchorage AK.
Ishtar has played for events in Morgantown WV, Akron OH, Charleston SC, Baltimore MD, Philadelphia PA, Harrisburg PA, Ossining, NY, New Paltz, NY, Richmond VA, Athens GA, Greenbelt MD, Cincinnati OH, Charlotte NC, Orlando FL, Anchorage AK, Ocean City MD and New Orleans LA. Every year since 2007, Ishtar has performed to record breaking crowds at the Washington DC Turkish Festival. Ishtar was the featured performing group at the Pittsburgh Turkish American Student Association dinner for Turkish Republic Day.
Ishtar has had the distinction of sharing the stage with Ana-Vey, Bellyqueen, Agnes Wired For Sound, Mandrake Project, PhatManDee, Polka Freakout, Guy Klucevsek & Alan Bern, Shtreiml, Tipton's Sax Quartet, Keshvar Project, Black Bear Combo and Raquy & the Cavemen.
Ishtar has had the honor of playing for the world renowned dancers: Artemis Mourat, Ashara, Tamalyn Dallal, Sherena, Rabia, Malia, and Jill Parker.
Ishtar was the house band from 2011 -2015 for the annual bellydance event Art of the Belly held in Ocean City MD.
Ishtar played annually at Rakkasah East in October and Spring Caravan in March in Somerset NJ.
Ishtar is available to play for any event as well as specific dancer performances.
For more information or to book Ishtar, please email melissa.murphey91@gmail.com
“Listening to Ishtar, you can’t help but get up and dance.
Although the band performs songs that were popular in belly dance clubs over fifty years ago, they acknowledge that as Westerners, their techniques and internal musical leanings sway toward an American feel.”
Kelly Thomas - Northside Chronicle
“A performance by Ishtar is an excursion. The journey is metaphorical, but the sense of experiencing something foreign is real. It is refreshing, exciting, and enthusiastic whatever your level of interest in the details.
”
Burgh Sounds blog
“But Ishtar's obsession with pan-Levantine melodies isn't based on mere dabbling. Though this disc is a collection of standards rather than originals, it shows both knowledge of the material and skilled technique, as well as reverence for an era many overlook...”
Manny Theiner - Pittsburgh City Paper
“Murphey conceived of a smaller ensemble that could grace venues without bellydancers. Thus, Ishtar was born, and her first recruit was Mark DeFilippo, who came from a rock and heavy metal background and was happy to learn the ways of the darbouka...”
Manny Theiner - Post-Gazette
“Best underground band:
1st Ishtar,
2nd Gramsci Melodic,
3rd Triggers
”
CP Staff - Pittsburgh City Paper
“If you are looking for a more indie underground beat, stick around for Ishtar. The Pittsburgh fivesome blends Middle Eastern and Mediterranean tunes to reflect the popular sounds of bellydancing nightclubs of the mid-twentieth century (what they call BellyRock).”
Harini Ganesh - After Dark blog
“Recently voted best underground band in Pittsburgh, Ishtar combines elements of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean music with surf rock to create "BellyRock." It's loads of fun, and it made me hungry for falafel. Hit them up on MySpace.”
Alexis Dow - Patriot News
“...was opener Ishtar: Belly-dancing music rules...Accompanied by doumbek and other percussion, Melissa Murphey's clarinet and Jeff Chmielarski's fretless bass wove intricate modal patterns from the exotic time signatures and melodies.
”
Aaron Jentzen - Pittsburgh City Paper
“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...started the belly-rock band Ishtar.”
Adam Brandolph - The Trib
“Belly dancing and Mediterranean folk music aren’t typically attributed to Somerset County.
Boswell native Melissa Murphey said her Pittsburgh-based band, Ishtar, will bring a spice to Somerfest that residents wouldn’t normally experience.
”
Bruce Siwy - Daily American
