Nazer Pander

Nazer Pander Ji is a Punjabi folk singer and hails from a small village called ‘Rakhrha’ which is near Gurmehrpur, in Nabha, Punjab. He is 44 years old and has great knowledge of Punjabi folk music. He sings, plays the traditional folk instruments- Dadd and Sarangi. His father, Gurmehal Pander Ji, is also folk musician, and Nazer Ji inherited all his knowledge about folk music from his father and grandfather. Gurmehal Ji has even composed his own song, ‘Chandrahaas’, depicting the folk culture in his community. Nazer Ji started learning at the age of 13 and formed his own group 15 years ago. Financially, he is dependent on income from music shows, and farming during the off-season. As a child, he used to sit with his father at night, after dinner, for 2 hours, to learn the folk songs, write them down and then memorize them by heart. He performs folk songs on legends of Heer Raanjha, Mirza, and more with his group in various fairs and festivals, locally in Punjab. He has also performed in shows, a couple of times in Haryana and Rajasthan as well. Nazer Ji feels that a digital recording is very important in the domain of folk music so that the pure form of folk songs reaches the people without any distortion.

• Patiala
• Punjab