Munni Begum was born as Nadira in Murshidabad, West Bengal in India in 1946. She studied music under Ustad Khawaja Ghulam Mustafa Warsi and later joined a college of Music in Dhaka where her singing skills were further polished.
Her family migrated to Pakistan after the Bangladesh Liberation war of 1971 which resulted in the creation of Bangladesh. She started her singing career in 1946.
Munni Begum’s journey towards success was full of hardships but she never gave up. With her father’s blessings and encouragement, she inched forward towards success and today she is known all over the world where good music is heard and appreciated.
She studied at BAF Shaheen School, Dhaka. Initially, she recorded songs for radio and television. Munni Begum adopted a very simple style from the very beginning. She released her first album in 1976. She simplified ghazal singing; and ghazal was no more a genre of music understood and enjoyed by the intellectuals but even common masses could now relate to it.
Munni Begun also played the harmonium while singing and some of her famous songs are her own compositions. Her song “Ek bar muskurado” is still fresh in the listeners’ minds. Munni Begum was well liked by the people because of her clear voice, vibrant voice and distinct style of singing but the ghazal “mareez e mohabat unhe ka fasana took her to new heights of glory.
Munni Begum has produced 40 cassettes in her entire career. She got married in 1980s but divorced in 1998. She has two daughters and a son. Munni Begum is now settled in Chicago, United States of America and does not perform regularly. She was awarded Pride of Performance Award by the Governor of Sindh on behalf of the President of Pakistan in 2008.
