Introduction to Tamil Keerthanams

Most popular classical carnatic songs sung are either composed in Telugu or in Sanskrit. Possibly this started because of the musical trinity of Thivaiyaru and due to the excellence of their compositions. It is well known that there were many forerunners of great composers who wrote in Tamil These compositions are poetically excellent and there are very large number of great composers who wrote in Tamil. The Tamil Trinity (also known as the Tamil Moovar) commonly refers to the three Tamil composers of early Carnatic music. They were Muthu Thandavar (?1560 - ?1640 CE), Arunachala Kavi (1712–1779) and Marimutthu Pillai (1717–1787), and lived five decades before the Tiruvarur Trinity or Trinity of Carnatic Music. They introduced several innovations that led to the evolution of the Carnatic Kriti (song).Oothukadu Venkada Subbayyar, Gopakrishna Bharathi , Arunachala Kavi are examples.