They were proficient singers and composers and used classical music and the Kannada language as a medium to propagate the teachings and philosophy of the Dvaita school.
While Sripadaraya is sometimes credited with starting this musical movement, Purandaradaasa, a disciple of Vyaasasraaya, became renowned as Karnataka Sangita Pitaamaha.
Sripadarayaru, a contemporary of Kallinatha (the commentator on Sarngadeva's Sangitaratnakara), was a musician and composer who heralded the musical traditions of the Haridasa movement.
Vyasarajaru, Vadirajaru, Purandaradasaru and Kanaka Dasaru (15th – 16th century) who followed in the tradition were contemporaries of celebrated musicologists like Ramamatya (Svaramelakalanidhi), Poluri Govindakavi (Ragatalachintamani) and Pundarika Vitthala (Sadragachandro`daya, Ragamala, Ragamanjari and Nartananirnaya).
[1] The tamburi (a stringed drone instrument) often identified with the Haridasas, is mentioned for the first time by Sripadaraya and subsequently by Vyasarayaru and Purandaradasaru.
Prasanna Venkatadasa (17th century) testifies in a song that Purandaradasa composed in the gita, thaya, suladi, ugabhoga, pada, padya-vrata (vrittanama) and prabandha forms.
Another popular song (kereya niranu kerege chelli) was originally a suladi and that yet another, the analekhara was initially a pillari gita.
They organised them into a simple, comprehensive, logical and organic system, and systematised and reorganised the conceptual and empirical paraphernalia of the tala.
These developments were stabilised and sustained by successive generations of Haridasas who, in their large numbers, prolific and varied compositions gave currency to these talas.
[1] As early as the 14th century, Narahari Teertha offered the first model of the pada, which was adopted and developed by extensive experimentation by successive Haridasa composers.
They drew upon several Kannada folk sources such as the lullaby, koluhaDu, udayaraga, suvvakke, sobane, gundakriya etc., to enrich Carnatic musical forms.
These included the tamburi, vina, dandika, kombu, flute, ankle-bells, bhringimela, panchavadya maddala, bheri, rudravina, titti, nagasvara, conch, mridanga, cymbols, dundubhi, damaru, tambata, mauri, tuttuti, kinnari, and pancha maha shabda.
[1] The Haridasas played a crucial role in the growth of Carnatic music, influencing the composers of Andhra and Tamil Nadu.