Sadguru Tyagaraja Swami, also known as Tyagayya, and in full as Kakarla Tyagabrahmam, was a saint composer and of Carnatic music, a form of Indian classical music. Tyagaraja and his contemporaries, Shyama Shastri and Muthuswami Dikshitar, are regarded as the Trinity of Carnatic music. Tyagaraja composed thousands of devotional compositions, most in Telugu and in praise of Rama, many of which remain popular today. However, only 720 of these are in vogue. Of special mention are five of his compositions called the Pancharatna Kritis, which are often sung in programs in his honour. Tyagaraja composed Utsava Sampradaya Krithis, which are often sung to accompany temple rituals and Divya Nama Sankeertanas which are sung as a part of concerts and in daily life.
Tallapaka Annamacharya, also popularly known as Annamayya, was a Telugu musician, composer, and a Hindu saint. He is the earliest known Indian musician to compose songs called samkirtanas. His devotional samkirtanas were in the praise of Venkateswara, a form of Vishnu. Annamayya is said to have composed as many as 32,000 samkirtanas (songs) in the praise of Venkateswara of which only about 12,000 are available today. He wrote the highest number of Kirtanas of all time in the praise of Lord Vishnu The musical form of the kirtana songs that he composed, which are still popular among Carnatic music concert artists, have strongly influenced the structure of Carnatic music compositions. His compositions are classified as Adhyatma (spiritual) and Sringara (romantic). Annamacharya is remembered for his saintly life, as one of the greatest musicians and is honoured as a great devotee of Vishnu by devotees and saintly singers. He was one of the first few who opposed the social stigma towards the untouchable castes in his era.
Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna was an Indian Carnatic vocalist, musician, multi-instrumentalist, playback singer, composer, and character actor. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1978. He has garnered two National Film Awards, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1975, the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian honor in 1991, for his contribution towards arts, the Mahatma Gandhi Silver Medal from UNESCO in 1995, the Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 2005, the Sangeetha Kalanidhi by Madras Music Academy, and the Sangeetha Kalasikhamani in 1991, by the Fine Arts Society, Chennai to name a few.
A Tillana or thillana is a rhythmic piece in South Indian Carnatic music that is generally performed at the end of a concert and widely used in classical indian dance performances. It was popularised by Dr. M Balamuralikrishna, Lalgudi Jayaraman and some other musicians A Tillana uses tala-like phrases in the pallavi and anupallavi, and lyrics in the charanam.
Mysore Vasudevacharya was an Indian musician and composer of Carnatic music compositions who belonged to the direct line of Thyagaraja's disciples. Vasudevachar's compositions were mostly in Telugu and Sanskrit. Some of his most popular kritis include Broche varevaru ra in Khamas raga, Devadideva in Sunadavinodini, Mamavatu Sri Saraswati in Hindolam, Shankari Ninne in Pantuvarali, Bhajare Re Manasa in Abheri and Ra Ra Rajeevalochana Rama in Mohanam. He presided over Madras Music Academy's annual conference in 1935, when the Sangeetha Kalanidhi award did not exist. But everybody who presided over the annual conference in the 1930s was later conferred the award. He was a recipient of the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan.
Nedunuri Krishnamurthy was an Indian Carnatic vocalist. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1991.
Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana was a Carnatic musician, a classical vocalist, musicologist, author and teacher, a great administrator and motivator. He was a performer on All India Radio and Doordarshan who participated in Sangeeta Sammelans, outdoor broadcasts and national programmes innumerable times. His radio lessons and Bhakti Ranjanis were very popular. He was awarded Padma Bhushan award by the Government of India in 2010.
Saluri Rajeswara Rao was an Indian composer, multi instrumentalist, conductor, singer, and music producer known for his works predominantly in South Indian cinema. Regarded as one of the finest music composers, Rajeswara Rao's works are noted for integrating Indian classical music in Telugu cinema for over half a century.
Sreevalsan J. Menon is an Indian Carnatic vocalist and a music composer from Kerala.
Kudamaloor Janardanan[കുടമാളൂര് ജനാര്ദ്ദനന്] is an Indian flautist of the Carnatic music tradition.
Shobha Raju is an Indian devotional singer, writer and composer, known as an exponent of sankirtana of the divine compositions of the saint-composer, Annamacharya. She was awarded the Padma Shri by Government of India for her contributions to arts in 2010. She is the founder of "Annamacharya Bhavana Vahini" (ABV).
Ramesh Vinayakam is an Indian composer, arranger, singer, songwriter, music producer, story writer and a music researcher.
Pandit M. Venkatesh Kumar is an Indian Hindustani vocalist. He is best known for his rendition of devotional songs composed by Swami Haridas and Kanakadasa. Kumar belongs to the Kirana and Gwalior Gharana.
Rajkumar Bharathi is a classical singer and composer from India. He is the great grandson of the renaissance poet Subramanya Bharathi. Rajkumar is an Electronics and telecommunications engineer graduated from the College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai. Rajkumar Bharathi a native of Chennai stands today as one of the most popular artists of his generation. He has also got a great following in the Indian state of Karnataka owing to his pleasing style of rendering Dasara Padagalu.
Saraswati Vidyardhi is a Carnatic vocalist and composer from Andhra Pradesh, India. She has won critical acclaim for her intensive research in Anumandra sthai (octave). She is capable of singing notes below the mandra shadjam up to the anumandra shadjam, and has also unearthed rare Panchamantya ragas.
Vidushi Sumitra Guha is an Indian classical vocalist, known for her expertise in the Carnatic and Hindustani schools of classical music. The Government of India honored her in 2010, with the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri.
O Kadhal Kanmani is the soundtrack album, composed by A. R. Rahman, to the 2015 Indian Tamil film of the same name written and directed by Mani Ratnam. The soundtrack album consists of nine tracks each in original Tamil and Telugu version of the albums with one track "Maula Wa Sallim" being common to both. Majority of the tracks for the original version were penned by Vairamuthu. The lyrics to the Telugu version were written by Sirivennela Sitaramasastri.The lyrics to its Hindi version songs in its Hindi remake OK Jaanu is by Gulzar The songs are fusion of contemporary music with carnatic music as well as pure classical Indian music based songs in the genres—carnatic and Hindustani. The original score was produced by ensemble Qutb-e-Kripa along with Rahman. The score utilises the songs and re-performed carnatic compositions of musicians Tyagaraja and Annamacharya.
Gopika Poornima is an Indian singer who mostly sings for Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada language films. She became popular with the singing competition Padutha Theeyaga. Her husband Mallikarjun is also a singer and composer in Telugu Film Industry.
Kuldeep Muralidhar Pai, best known as Kuldeep M Pai, is an Indian musician, composer, Carnatic music vocalist, and music producer. His videos are mainly performed by children and are released under his own recording label, Chith Studios.
Malladi Suribabu is an Indian Carnatic vocalist and musician from Vijayawada, India. He was conferred with Kala Ratna, a civilian honor by the Government of Andhra Pradesh in 2013 and TTK Award by Madras Music Academy in 2014. He is a disciple of Voleti Venkateshwarulu, Sripada Pinakapani and Nedunuri Krishnamurthy.
