Meet the man who inspired Patari's latest project Tabeer

Nazar Gill, a sanitary worker from Islamabad, was only a child when he realised singing was his true calling.

"We used to be kids when we would go to church," Nazar Gill says of his earliest memory of singing. "From an early age we, my siblings and I, started singing. It was something we did with our family: go to church and sing."

The 32-year-old recently recorded a song he wrote with one of Pakistan's most popular music streaming platforms, Patari. In fact, Ahmer Naqvi, Director Patari tells us, Nazar was the inspiration behind the company's latest project Tabeer, a series of songs which focuses on six talented voices from all over Pakistan.

The project has so far released four of six songs: 'The Sibbi Song' by Abid Brohi & SomeWhatSuper, 'Chitta Chola' by Jahangir & Abbas Ali Khan, 'Players Of Lyari' by Lyari Underground & Dynoman and Nazar's song 'Jugni.'

Nazar recalls approaching Ahmer, who used to be in the same building he worked at, and requested the music buff to give his song a listen.

He sang a tribute he had written for the Holy Prophet (pbuh) roughly 4/5 years ago. The same song Ahmer fell in love with and the same song he recorded for Patari.

That's how it all started, says Nazar with a hint of fulfillment.

Talking about his song he says, "I love singing and writing, so one day I sat down and decided that I wanted to write something in honour of our Rasul. Once I had written it, I kept learning it."

It was then that he decided to pursue music as a profession, however, he had started working towards his passion at an earlier age. At 13, he had gotten in touch with an ustaad in Faisalabad to mentor him. From then one it was a series of ustaads who kept teaching and training Nazar, one after the other.

Everything came to a halt after he got married and moved to Islamabad. His job as a sanitary worker didn't allow him much time to work on singing and hence, music lessons took a backseat.

"Initially I worked and continued my singing lessons, but once I moved to Islamabad, I wasn't able to focus on them and dropped the lessons." Albeit, Nazar says he would still go to church and sing, and belt out tunes at the behest of friends and family.

On facing obstacles he says, "You encounter hardships in life, but you overcome them. I never thought of leaving music. I own a harmonium but whether there is something to eat at home or not, I have never thought of selling it or giving it away.

"I sing at church as well, as much as I can -- no matter how many hardships come our way we can't leave our passion," he explains.

He has two daughters who he would love to see venture into music, and by the looks of it, they're already steering towards it. "My eldest daughter -- she's just four and can't sing -- [but] she sits with me while I rehearse at home."

Nazar says he has the support of his family, his wife Riffat, along with his brothers are immensely proud of him.

"My family knew I sang but when I told my older brother about Patari, he was extremely happy, as were my relatives; finally my dream was coming true. They all like the song, and even now when they talk about my achievement they praise me and wish me well."

In the end he hopes nothing more than to focus on music entirely, and "roti rozi is mein banao and do nothing else. I want this to become my job."