Music in India is looked up to as Divine. The existence of music is everywhere, but in different forms in different places. In south India, this form of divinity is Carnatic music.

Composers
Purandaradasa is known as the father of Carnatic music. Most of the compositions of carnatic music are written by him. He is believed to have written close to five lakh compositions of Carnatic music. The three composers, known as the Trinity of Carnatic Music are Muthuswami Dikshitar, Tyagaraja, and Syama Sastry. Other well-known Carnatic music composers include Annamacharya, Narayana Theertha, Vijaya Dasa, Bhadrachala Ramadas and Patnam Subramania Iyer.

Elements
Carnatic music is in the form of both vocal and instrumental. In both these forms, Shruti, Raagam and Taalam are the main components. Other equally important components are swaras and notes. In the vocal form, the Kritis or Keerthanas also form a part of the major elements. Compositions of classical music are known as Keerthanas.

Keerthanas
Each keerthana has three parts- Pallavi, Anupallavi and Charanam. Pallavi is the refrain which is usually repeated more than once in the compositions. Anupallavi is the verse that follows the Pallavi. The Anupallavi is generally not repeated. Charanam is remaining part of the Keerthana. The Pallavi is commonly sung before and after each Charanam.

Carnatic Music Now

The Southern Part of India celebrates its music form, Carnatic Music with all its fervor. Tyagaraja Ganasabhas are organized annually. Concerts are organized regularly in many places where number of musicians come to bow down to the Divine form of music. Eminent musicians include the ‘Bombay Sisters’, S.P. Balasubramaniam, and the Late MS Subbalakshmi.