Ṭaüs طاووس is the debut solo music project of transdisciplinary artist Ṭaüs Tamara Jafar. Without being tethered to medium or genre, Ṭaüs’ creative output is bold, raw, and confidently vulnerable. Their work in music explores openings into ecstatic state and poetic eroticism through the lens of queer liminality. The resulting sound is a distillation of the eclectic cultural, geographical, and identity experiences of a trans child of the Arab diaspora.
Arranged Marriage, ṬAÜS’ debut LP, chronicles the inner confluence of seemingly warring forces, arranged to be together at a place in time, and the possibilities for the profound peace that comes only through their destined reconciliation.
In our interview, ṬAÜS illustrates the wildly diverse threads of inspiration that inform his work: a tapestry of electronica, pop, industrial, and riot grrl. ṬAÜS also examines how the music industry — and the world, can become more just.
Name a perfect song and tell us why you feel that way.
Nina Simone’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne.” With respect to Leonard, I’d say it’s an instance where I think the person covering the song understood it better than the original person it came through (kind of like how I think older Joni Mitchell’s delivery of “Both Sides Now” reveals a lived understanding of the song that younger Joni wasn’t fully awake to). Of course, that’s my speculation, and possibly or even probably me projecting. Anyway, when I hear Nina Simone deliver “Suzanne,” I hear direct guidance on the human condition, how to stay inspired here and how to be a messenger for love. That insight has felt precious to me.
In particular it’s this:
“…and she shows you where to look between the garbage and the flowers / there are heroes in the seaweed there are children in the morning / They are leaning, leaning out for love and they will lean that way forever while Suzanne holds the mirror”.
I weep like a baby almost every time I hear that line.
Explain the title of your album.
Arranged Marriage is a few things. Though generations of my family had them literally, I find a lot of creative potency in the symbolism of them in concept. The premise is basically: you’re stuck with this person, figure it out. It is a hellscape. That was actually a kind of profound guidance at a point in time when I went into the studio feeling at war with myself over facets of my identity and experience that felt agonizingly irreconcilable. In creating this body of work, I asked the powers that be for a creative process that would facilitate healing. So the record itself chronicles the inner confluence of seemingly warring forces, arranged to be together at a place in time, and the possibilities for the profound peace that comes only through their destined reconciliation.
Does your album have an overarching theme?
I’d like to reinforce the tangible possibility of peace, wonder and resilience even when the despair is agonizing.
What’s the best way a fan can support you?
Right now, I am launching a new project from the gallows of anonymity in an age where there are an unprecedented number of releases and trillions of other things people could place their attention on. If I’ve made it through that barrier and into your listening sphere, I already consider it a miracle. Please keep finding me and I’ll try to do the same for you.
What is your vision for a more just music industry?
I think about this all the time because I’m co-running a label at Lo Fi Music and we are deeply invested in re-thinking how to create structures that are equitable. In 2020, a big intellectual miss from the majors was that they cannot be in alignment with anti-racism if their deal structures exploit labor. At a certain point in all of our careers, there is an expectation that musicians and producers – at professional levels – work in an “advance” structure whilst our label and publishing reps work salaried with bennies.
I think about label and publishing advances all the time. In particular, I think about how insulting they are at the premise. We receive money for X years of labor that we have to then pay back to a company. It’s like receiving a salary for actual work you do and then being asked to pay it back (“recoup”). Only after your art has sold to the point of fully paying the label or publisher back, are you eligible to earn a percentage of your work’s profits. It feels unconscionably exploitative as musicians’ labor isn’t in-and-of-itself seen as valuable by the market. We end up working toward the benefit of companies with people who smile at us, who are salaried and who receive healthcare benefits, who take us out for beautiful meals that they expense and who also know they are earning and in relative stability while we are working in incredibly volatile conditions.
If I were king of the world, an idea of how I might rewire everything is by mandating that companies only sign acts who they can offer a salary and health care benefits to. If salaries are not possible due to the size of the company (Lo Fi, for example is a boutique), then the company should offer a gesture of sweat equity to match the input of the artist. From there, any excess profit from the excellent work everyone does can be redistributed as bonuses. For everyone who isn’t in the .1% of pop success but who is still a working musician/producer/songwriter etc, it would mean making art is a viable career path. Underlying the endemic exploitation of the music industry is the fact that we are all beholden to a national economy that doesn’t guarantee us the capacity to eat or have shelter or healthcare if the marketplace changes its mind about the value of our labor or product from one year to the next. That is inhumane and inexplicably cruel. So, the way I would actually create a more just music industry is that I would have a baseline universal income, universal healthcare, and universal shelter – guaranteed to everyone. From there, any excess money people earn from their unicorn selling businesses can go to their exquisite backyard hammams and, at very least, the rest of us know that we can just fucking live.
Is there a professional “bucket list” item you would love to check off?
I’m definitely one of those people who’s all “this is between me and god” LOL. So, in a sense, no not really. However, since you asked, between me, you, and God – I really want to play Red Rocks. For an Arab kid from the midwest, doing anything cool in music is already surreal and so the idea of earning a place there seems unfathomable. Also, I’d like to deliver the speech for whatever lifetime achievement award Mariah Carey receives. I think I’d knock it out of the park for her.
ṬAÜS — Instagram, TikTok, Apple Music, Spotify, Vevo/ YouTube