He was the younger son of the maestro Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. Ustad Munawar Ali Khan was taught by his father Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and his uncle Ustad Barkat Ali Khan. He accompanied his father Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan sahib to all his concerts and became an integral part of his father"s recital after his father had a paralytic attack in early 1961.
Ustad Munawar Ali Khan also learned Dhrupad from Hussainuddin Dagar (Tansen Pandey). Ustad Munawar Ali Khan had a full-throated voice with open aakar and his style differed from his father"s quicksilver style. After his father"s death in 1968 he started giving solo concerts and become the worthy representative and the "Khalifa" of the Kasur Patiala Gharana.
Ustad Munawar Ali Khan was a Top-grade artist at All India Radio.
He performed in major music festivals in India and abroad. He toured extensively in Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom, France, Australia and represented India in Afghanistan in 1986 and in Pakistan in 1984.
He has several discs to his cr both in India and abroad, released by Audiorec, HMV, Electric and Music Industries Music and Sony Nad. With Sandhya Mukherjee he also sang for a Bengali film "Jaijawanti" (1971).
Ustad Munawar Ali Khan sahib created many khyal and thumri bandishes as well as geets and ghazals.
He sang ragas which were not very popular in his Gharana, such as Shuddh Kalyan, Bairagi Bhairav, Abhogi Kanada, Suha Kanada, Devgiri Bilawal, and Ahir Bhairav and he created a new raga named Malini Basant. Munawar Ali Khan died at age of 59 in Kolkata on 13 October 1989.
