Garimella Balakrishna Prasad

Garimella Balakrishna Prasad spent his life setting the hymns of the 15th-century saint-poet Annamacharya to music. He was named posthumously for the Padma Shri in 2026 in the field of art, from Andhra Pradesh ^[1].

The Annamacharya Project

Prasad was born on 9 November 1948 and learned music first from his parents and then from the Carnatic singer Nedunuri Krishnamurthy ^[2]. In 1978 he joined the Annamacharya Project of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), where he worked for nearly thirty years ^[2]. He stayed connected to TTD for the rest of his life, including as its asthana vidwan (court musician) ^[2].

A thousand tunes

Of his roughly 2,500 compositions, more than 1,000 were tunes for Annamacharya’s hymns, bringing hymns that had largely lived in manuscripts into everyday devotional singing ^[2]. He also composed more than 400 classical works and created 22 new ragas ^[2]. Over six decades he gave more than 6,000 concerts ^[2].

He started the Sankeerthana Yagnam, week-long marathons of devotional singing ^[2]. In 2009 he led more than 1.6 lakh singers at Hyderabad’s Parade Grounds in an event recognised by Guinness World Records ^[2]. He wrote more than ten books of notation, released over 100 albums and presented devotional TV series ^[2].

He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2020 ^[2]. He died on 9 March 2025 ^[2].