The Father of Carnatic Music is Purandara Vittaladasa. He was born in the 16th century in present day Karnataka, India. He made many significant contributions to Carnatic music and is officially known as Sangeeta Pithamaha. He was the first to make the beginner lessons sung in ragam Mayamalavagoula because of the symmetry of the raga. He also created the alankaras to familiarise the student with the sapta talas. Along with this, he composed the first four geetas and numerous kritis.
Thyagaraja Swami, Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar, and Sri Syama Sastry, known as the trinity composers, provided Carnatic music with innumerable amount of kritis. They are also known as the Vakgayakaras because they can sing and compose music. Among the three, Thyagaraja was the most prolific. His compositions are known for their considerable importance to bhava pradhanam, or emotion. Most of his compositions are in praise of Lord Rama and they mainly deal with the day to day events of life during his time. Syama Sastry was the oldest. He dedicated most of compositions to the Goddess and they were known for the excellence of melody. The youngest, Dikshitar, composed music that is greatly influenced by Hindustani bani, or style. On his travels of the south, his compositions relate to the temples that he visited. He is well known for his usage of ragas in his compositions. With the rise of the trinity, all the composers in the earlier years were overshadowed and even the later composers were unable to emulate them.
Other well known composers are: Anamacharya, Ramdasa, Venkatamakhi, Kshetrayya, Jayadeva, Swathi Tirunal and Patnam Subbramanyam Iyer.
To learn more about the composers of Carnatic Music Galaxy of Composers is a wonderful website to check out.
Information From:
Sriram,
V. Carnatic Summer: Lives of Twenty Great Exponents. Chennai: East West
(Madras), 2004. Print.
Composers
