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.

The major composers Thyagaraja, Syama Sastri, Muthuswami Dikshitar, Annamacharya and Badhrachala Ramadas are legends in the field of Carnatic music. In the area of instrumental music, giants such as Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu (violin), Emani Sankara Sastry (veena) and Chitti Babu (veena) are famous. Contemporary stalwarts of Vocal music include Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna, Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, Srirangam Gopalaratnam, Sripada Pinakapani, Sarangapani and Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana. Yella Venkatesara Rao (mridangam) and U. Srinivas (mandolin) have also earned fame

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.