Annamācārya: Venkataramanā Govindā. .

Taḷḷapāka Annamācārya (or Annamayya) was a 15th-century saint and is the earliest known Indian musician to compose songs called sankirtanas in praise of the god Venkateswara, a form of Vishnu. As the legend goes, Annamayya, at the age of 16, had a vision of Lord Venkateswara which prompted him to write about 32,000 kirtanas and padams in praise of Lord Venkateswara and his consort Alamelu Manga. He composed devotional padams, keertanas, folk songs, etc. in pure Telugu and Sanskrit. 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 by devotees and saintly singers. He is believed to have been the avatar of Nandaka, the sword of Vishnu. He is widely regarded as the Andhra Pada kavitā Pitāmaha(Godfather of Telugu song-writing). A list of some of his snakirtanas can be found here.  Annamacharya is said to have composed as many as 36,000 sankeertanas (songs) on the god Venkateswara, of which only about 12,000 are available today. 

He is also the author of musical treatise called

"Sankirthana lakshanamu". Annamacharya 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, they were later found engraved on copper plates, hidden for centuries inside the Sri Venkateshwara 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.

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams has been endeavouring to preserve the rich heritage of his compositions. In the year 1950, The State Government of Andhra Pradesh created a

committee and appointed Dr M Balamuralikrishna as its head. He set music to over 800 compositions of Annamacharya and are still popular among the devotees. He has been the Āsthāna Gāyaka of the Tirumala temple at Tirupati since two decades. He is regarded as a legend in rendering devotional music in classical style, especially the Annamacharya Sankirtanas. He is also an acclaimed poet, singer, and a musicologist