There are two forms of Indian classical music, Carnatic Music and Hindustani music. Carnatic Music is popular in the southern states of India such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. . It is one of the richest and the most ancient musical traditions of the world. Thyagaraja, Shyama Sastri and Muthuswami Dixitar are the three legendary figure of the Carnatic Music from Andhra Pradesh.
Andhra Pradesh has played a vital role in establishment of Carnatic music, as Telugu language is the essence of Carnatic music. Some of the well-known singers of Carnatic Music are Annamacharya and Bhadrachala Ramadasa, who belong to the state of Andhra Pradesh. The basic form of Carnatic Music is a monophonic song with spontaneous deviations. There is a wide array of melodious movements in the music using the 72 basic scales on the octave. During the Vijayanagar Empire, Carnatic music saw a transformation, by Vyasaraja, Purandara Dasa, Kanakadasa and others, which was called the Kannada Haridasa movement. Purandara Dasa suggested the basic rules and structure for teaching carnatic music.
In simple words we can say that Carnatic Music is the classical music of South India. Some of the renowned contemporary vocalists are include Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna, Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, Srirangam Gopalaratnam, Sarangapani and Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana. The two main elements of Carnatic Music are: raga, the style or melodious method, and tala, the metrical sequence. The present form of Carnatic music is a gradual development of the form that started in the 15th - 16th centuries. Stalwarts of instrumental music are Dwaram Venkatasami Naidu (Violin), Chittibabu (Veena) and Eemani Sankara Sastri (Veena)
