Tallapaka Annamacharya , a Hindu saint and the earliest known Indian musician to compose songs called sankirtanas in praise of the Lord Venkateswara. He is the first known composer in carnatic music. The musical form of the keertana songs that he composed, which are still popular among Carnatic music concert artists, have strongly influenced the structure of Carnatic music compositions.[ Annamacharya is remembered for his saintly life, and is honoured as a great devotee of Vishnu. He is believed to have been the creator avatar of Nandaka, the sword of Vishnu. He is widely regarded as the Andhra Pada kavitā Pitāmaha.
Tallapaka Annamacharya was born on Vaishakha Shuddha Pournami in the year Sarwadhari in Tallapaka, Near Rajampet Mandal, a village in present-day Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh, India. Even though his parents belonged to the Nandavarika Brahmin community of Smarta tradition, he took initiation into Vaishnavism and became a Vaishnava in the Vedanta Desika Sampradaya. His wife, Timmakka, had written Subhadra Kalyanam, and is considered the first female poet in Telugu literature. Their son, Pedda Tirumalacharya, and grandson, Tallapaka Chinnayya, were also composers and poets. The Tallapaka compositions are considered to have dominated and influenced the structure of Carnatic music compositions. Annamacharya lived for 95 years until Phalguna Bahula (Krishna) Dvadasi in the year Dhundhubhi.
Annamayya is said to have composed as many as 32,000 sankeertanas on the praise of lord Venkateswara of which only about 12,000 are available today. He is also the author of musical treatise called “Sankirthana lakshanamu”.

Annamayya considered his compositions as floral offerings to Venkateswara. In the poems, he praises the deity, describes his love for him, argues and quarrels with the Lord, confesses the devotee’s failures and apprehensions, and surrenders himself to Venkateshwara. His songs are classified into the Adhyaatma (spiritual) and Sringaara (romantic) sankeertanas genres. His songs in the “Sringaara” genre worship Venkateswara by describing the romantic adventures of Venkateshwara and his consort Alamelu, while others describe the Bhakti of his devotees.

In his later keertanas, he espouses subjects such as morality, dharma and righteousness. He was one of the first few who opposed the social stigma towards the untouchable castes in his era ] with his sankeertanas explaining that the relationship between God and human is the same irrespective of the latter’s color, caste and financial status, in his songs “Brahmaṃ Okkatē Paraḥbrahmamokkatē” and “ē kulajuḍainanēmi evvaḍainanēmi”. His prodigious literary career earned him a place among the all-time greats of Telugu literature.
While he enjoyed popularity in his days, his compositions were forgotten for over three centuries. Mentioned in 1849,[11] they were later found engraved on copper plates, hidden for centuries inside the Sri Venkateswara temple at Tirumala, just opposite the Hundi, concealed in a very small room. An English translation of 150 of these verses was published in 2005. late Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna as its head. He set music to over 800 compositions of Annamacharya and are still popular among the devotees. He was the Āsthāna Gāyaka of the Tirumala temple at Tirupati for two decades.