For Orange County Artist Big Sur, Music Is Activism, Healing and Home
- Shiraz Nicpon
- 8 minutes ago
- 7 min read
Melody Tajalli, aka Big Sur, uses music to reflect her journey as a queer, first-generation Iranian-Afghan American artist.
The air in Melody Tajalli’s living room is warm and earthy, filled with the strong scent of esfand burning and freshly brewed coffee. Between sips of her coffee, Tajalli (she/they) explains how music has always been a form of expression and a tool to navigate the world.
Tajalli, whose artist name is Big Sur, was exposed to music at a young age by her dad, who was in the music industry in Iran and continued to work with the Iranian diaspora. He moved to the United States after the 1979 Iranian Revolution. She noted that she wasn’t just listening to music on the radio, but to her dad singing and playing real instruments.
Growing up in Orange County, Tajalli was surrounded by a large Iranian community that regularly held mehmoonis, or parties, which also played a part in her love of music. She recalls the unity in the moments of the mehmoonis, when everyone would come together to sing and play instruments.
“Those were the most inspirational things for me when it came to the feeling of what the music I wanted to make made me feel,” Tajalli said.
As a musician with a growing platform, Tajalli hopes to provide access to creative spaces and reduce the barriers people might experience to break into creative spaces and fields. As a 24-year-old full-time artist, Tajalli said she wants to reduce the stigma around being an artist or musician who doesn’t fall into the traditional, stereotypical 9-to-5 working world way.
“I just hope to be an example of how being authentic and following whatever makes you feel alive and fulfilled can work out,” Tajalli said. “I hope to impact people in a way that helps them not take themselves too seriously and opens eyes to understanding that one of the most rewarding things we can do is take care of ourselves, and fill our own cups with what speaks to us, and in turn that can impact others around us as well, you know, like this chain reaction.”
Finding Her Voice
Tajalli went to school in Aliso Viejo at St. Mary’s Aliso Viejo and Santa Margarita Catholic High School. Tajalli’s musician name, Big Sur, actually comes from the street she grew up on in Aliso Viejo. She mentioned that the early stages of navigating who she was began in Orange County and continued when she went to college at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
“I had the group of Persians, and that was its own vibe that was like a safe place for me, but it was not attached to my day-to-day. I feel like I was just surrounded by people that I had to change for and had to stray away from myself for, and that was really hard to understand, but it was important for me to understand to grow and become more comfortable and confident in who I am,” she said.
When Tajalli began writing music, around the ages of 12 and 13, she repressed some of the emotions she felt inside. Now an adult, Tajalli said as she grew more confident in her identity, the boundaries she had set for herself as a musician broke away.
“So many insecurities about my creative process and my sound as well left because I was like, there's no reason I can't do this too,” she said. “There's no reason why I can't incorporate this sound into this sound. It was such a beautiful parallel because my sound evolved as I did.”
Two Worlds, One Identity
This realization also included Tajalli exploring her sexuality in a space where she didn’t know any openly queer people. Tajalli said that while navigating her identity, there was a lot of internalized homophobia and setbacks of feeling she had to choose which sides of her identity she showed based on where she went.
“I think that it was really difficult because it felt like I often had to choose one or the other. And it didn't feel like there was ever that space that both could exist at the same time, where I could be a queer Iranian person. And I think that the older I got, the more I saw what being Iranian truly was. It wasn't the bigoted, extremely judgmental values and beliefs that sometimes, we see perpetuated as the stereotype of Iranians, are this way.”
For Tajalli, it was really scary to be queer and also a first-generation Iranian-Afghan American, but it was also a journey of being vulnerable. As she came out to her close friends and family, and people she never expected, they fully supported her.
Tajalli said moments like these were especially important to her because she feared a divide between these two parts of her. At the time, she was struggling to feel both queer and Iranian because it made her feel very American, as if being queer meant she could not also be Iranian. Tajilli explained that there was a weird intersection of growing up in the United States, but also being raised extremely Iranian.
“I never thought it would be hard for me to get acceptance from the general population. I was like, OK, I’m going to school in Washington, D.C., or I’m around a lot of people that I’m sure are queer people around them. But my inner group, I was like, I don't ever want to have to give up our family group just because of my identity.”
It was the love Tajalli had always felt from the Iranian people that she needed. Now people from Tajalli’s Iranian American community have also come forward and texted her about it. It’s exciting for Tajalli to see this growth within her inner circle, because she’s proud that her childhood friends feel safe enough to be their real selves.
Over time and consistency, Tajallii has grown an Instagram following of about 84,200 people. Social media has been a way for her to foster many connections with queer people and Iranian people, and also queer Iranian creatives who have come to her for guidance or just to talk about her experiences. Tajalli said it’s something she feels honored and privileged to be able to do.
“Coming to terms confidently with my identity was and is a continuing journey, and community is so important during that, so I am always grateful for my community and to be a community to others,” Tajalli said.
Music as Resistance
Big Sur’s strong roots in her Iranian culture have influenced some of the aesthetic choices in her music. From writing songs in Farsi to incorporating Iranian instruments like the santoor (a trapezoidal hammered dulcimer) and the tombak (a traditional Persian goblet drum), Big Sur experiments with the sounds she grew up with in her art. Big Sur aims to release a project exploring the influence of Iranian music on the global sound over hundreds of years. She also wants to explain why music is so revolutionary in Iran.
“People understand there's bad restrictions happening in Iran, but they don't understand music itself, like the way you do it, who's doing it, the way it's produced, how it's put out, that could be a crime,” Big Sur said. “Where you're living, it's women in this industry in Iran doing what I'm doing right now! No shot. You don't get to put music out there that's highlighting injustice or stuff like that. You see what happened to Toomaj Salehi and all these different artists who get incarcerated for just being outspoken. I just think that people need to understand why music is so important and integral. You see how people grieve in Iran with music. It's all these different things.”
Tajalli explained that music is much more than just a song for people in Iran facing violent protests and war. For example, she said, the song “Barayre” by Shervin Hajipour was not just Hajipour posting a song on Instagram. It was a message he wanted to be heard. It shows you the impact because that song became the anthem for the “woman life freedom” protests and won the first Grammy for Best Song for Social Change in 2023.
For Big Sur, there are no limits to how she can express herself, she said, and there’s also no right time to start making something. With the current war and government crackdown in Iran, Tajalli said she was waking up crying day after day. The only thing that was helping her get through it was music.
“Music helps me in a way that I don't always want to talk in front of a camera, explaining things. Sometimes, for me, it's easier to make a song. Those things help me a lot, not only to heal and express myself through these things individually, but also help inform in a way I feel that’s more consumable than seeing people talk on a screen,” Tajalli said.
What's Next for Big Sur
As of now, Tajalli’s goal is to incorporate Iranian sounds into her upcoming releases and projects.
Tajalli shared her appreciation for the following she’s gained from music, which has enabled her to shed light on the ongoing injustices in the world, because, for her, social advocacy is a constant in her life.
“You know, regimes might fall and everything, but ideologies, those still live within people. And it's being able to inform and keep people educated to avoid stuff happening, or create a sense of general knowledge as to why it would be dangerous for a regime to be in charge. Why would it be dangerous if all of a sudden, a monarchy comes back with no plan or anything for the people? I just feel like that is what art has the ability to do is just keep people educated because it doesn't die. It stays alive all the time,” she said.
Big Sur has two new singles out on SoundCloud, “Ripple” and “I'll be there,” which are original projects. She also has three new original productions named “to shreds,” “always” and “say it ain’t so” on her Instagram.
To keep up with specific dates, check out her Instagram @whoisbigsur and @soundbybigsur. For new music, check out Big Sur on SoundCloud.
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