Annamacharya
(Sri Tallapaka Annamacharya, Annamayya) (1408 - 1503) is the earliest
known musician in South India to compose sankeertanas. He composed
32 thousand songs in praise of Lord Venkateswara, the deity of the
Seven Hills in Tirumala of which only about 13000 are obtainable
today. He is widely regarded as the Pada-kavita Pitaamaha (Grand
old man of song-writing) of the Telugu language. The major themes
of his songs were spirituality (Madhura Bhakthi).
Tyagaraja (Tyagayya) ( 1767 - 1847) was one of
the greatest composers of Carnatic music or classical South Indian
music. His full name is Kakarla Tyaga Brahmam.He, along with his
contemporaries Muthuswami Dikshitar and Shyama Shastry, forms the
Trinity of Carnatic music. He was a prolific composer and highly
influential in the development of the South Indian classical music
tradition. Tyagaraja composed hundreds of devotional compositions,
most of them in praise of Lord Rama. His compositions remain very
popular even today.
Ramadasu (Kancherla Gopanna, Bhadrachala Ramadasu)
(1620 - 1680) was a 17th century Indian devotee of Rama and a composer
of Carnatic music. He lived in the village of Nelakondapalli near
Bhadrachalam, Andhra Pradesh during the 17th century and is renowned
for constructing a famous temple for Rama at Bhadrachalam. His devotional
lyrics to Rama are famous in Andhra Pradesh as Ramadaasu Keertanalu.
Kshetrayya (Kshetragna) (1600 – 1680) was
a prolific Telugu poet and composer of Carnatic music. He lived
in the area of Andhra Pradesh in South India. He composed a number
of padams and keertanas, the prevalent formats of his time. He is
credited with more than 4000 compositions, although only a handful
have survived. He composed his songs on his favourite deity Krishna
(Gopala) in Telugu.
Mangalampalli Balamurali Krishna (born July 6,
1930) is a Carnatic vocalist, multi-intrumentalist and a playback
singer. He is also acclaimed as a poet, composer and respected for
his knowledge of Carnatic Music.
Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao (1922 - 1974) was
a great Telugu singer and music composer of Telugu films and few
other Indian language films. He received Padmashree award. For nearly
quarter a century, he was the voice of Telugu films. He was Telugu
cinema's first playback singer for movies.
S.P Balasubrahmanyam (Balu) (born June 4, 1946)
is a prolific Indian singer and actor. Balasubrahmanyam made his
debut in film music as a singer on December 15, 1966 with Sri Sri
Sri Maryada Ramanna, a film scored by his mentor S. P. Kodandapani.
He has sung in more than five different Indian languages including
Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and Malayalam.
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Telugu
Music 
Andhra
Pradesh has a rich musical heritage. Many legends of the Carnatic
music including Trinity of Carnatic music Thyagaraja, Annamacharya,
Kshetrayya, and Bhadrachala Ramadasu were of Telugu descent. Great
Mandolin player, Mandolin Srinivas is also from Andhra Pradesh.
Folk songs are also popular in the rural areas of the state. A great
Carnatic singer, who invented some more Ragas in Carnatic Music,
the great Sri Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna is of Telugu descent.
