Duet

I was browsing through the videos in YouTube when I came across this video of S.P. Balasubramaniam answering a question from a fan (Rakesh Misra) about special memories of recording the song "Anjali Anjali" from Duet released in 1994.

A Conversation with SPB: The Story of Anjali Anjali

My memories of "Duet" began when my brother bought the Mani Osai cassette of "Duet" in Malaysia in 1994. The front sleeve had Prabhu posing with a saxophone. The year 1994 was the year of my SPM (the Malaysian secondary school examinations before we either pursued further tertiary education or started our working life), and I was focusing on my studies but every time my brother played "Duet" on the Aiwa sound system, I could not help but listen to the songs. I enjoyed all the songs from the "Duet" soundtrack - from the thumping bass of "Mettuppodu Mettuppodu", the rhythm of the saxophone in "Naan Paadum Sandham", and the way the vocals of S.P. Balasubramaniam sounded in "Kulicha Kuthaalam" - the soundtrack was another winner from A.R. Rahman back in the early days of his movie career but the song that captured my imagination the most is the melodic, and soothing sounds of "Anjali Anjali". The flute by Naveen that adorns the song is soulful - touches the heart.

My father borrowed the Pyramid CD of "Duet" from my cousin brother, and I remember going though the sleeve - it showed the upcoming audio releases on Pyramid from A.R. Rahman - excellent marketing strategy.

I did not know what happened to my brother's cassette copy of "Duet" but I bought another copy for myself from one of the textile shops in Jalan Masjid India after I went to university. By the time I started my collection of A.R. Rahman CDs, the Pyramid CD of "Duet" became very rare. I finally managed to find a copy from Joe's Mac (a shop selling second hand items) located in AmCorp Mall about 2-3 years back. I guess someone must have sold their Tamil CDs collection to the shop as I saw a few Pyramid, and Alai Osai CDs but I could not believe my luck when I saw the Pyramid "Duet" CD. I think I bought the CD for less than RM10.

The confusing thing about "Duet" is that the soundtrack releases from the various audio companies in cassettes, and CDs had different tracks. Noell James received a credit as one of the singers featured in the soundtrack but I believe "LOVE IS TORTURE" never appeared in the movie itself. The Chitra short rendition of "En Kadhalae" also never appeared in the movie.

Duet - Pyramid - 018 - Cassette - India (March 1994)
The Pyramid cassette release of "Duet" in India had 13 tracks which was unbelievable for me as the Pyramid CD only had 8 tracks. Below is the list of tracks from the Indian Pyramid cassette release obtained from the scans that have appeared on the Internet:
Side A
Anjali Anjali
Mettuppodu Mettuppodu
Kavithaikku Porul Thandha - Prabhu & Sreeja
Saththathinaal Vantha - Prabhu
Kathirikka Kathirikka

Side B
Vennilavin Theril Yeri
Naan Paadum Sandham
LOVE IS TORTURE - Written & Sung by Noell James
En Kadhalae - S.P. Balasubramaniam
TITLE MELODY - Kadri Gopalnath
En Kadhalae - Chitra
SAX LULLABY - Kadri Gopalnath
Kulicha Kuthaalam

Duet/Maindan - Pyramid - CD PYR 8176 - CD - Singapore (1994)
For the Pyramid CD release of "Duet", the "LOVE IS TORTURE" track was merged together at the beginning of "En Kadhalae" by S.P. Balasubramaniam. The 2 poem recital tracks - "Kavithaikku Porul Thandha", and "Saththathinaal Vantha", Chitra's short rendition of "En Kadhalae", and "SAX LULLABY" were not included on the CD version from Pyramid.

Vennilavin Theril Yeri
Mettuppodu Mettuppodu
Anjali Anjali
Kathirikka Kathirikka
Naan Paadum Sandham
En Kadhalae - S.P. Balasubramaniam & Noell James
Kulicha Kuthaalam
TITLE MELODY

Duet - Mani Osai - M 8092 - Cassette - Malaysia
For the Malaysian cassette release of "Duet", on the sleeve, the tracks were listed as below - the same as tracks from the Pyramid CD version but the cassette contained additional tracks. On Side A, after "Kathirikka Kathirikka", the "SAX LULLABY" track was included. On Side B, Chitra's short rendition of "En Kadhalae" was included after the "TITLE MELODY" track. For me this is best release of "Duet" in terms of tracks placement, the album needs to start off with a bang with "Mettuppodu Mettuppodu" on Side A, and "Naan Paadum Sandham" on Side B to truly appreciate the powerhouses of "Anjali Anjali", and "En Kadhalae" immediately after them.

Side A
Mettuppodu Mettuppodu
Anjali Anjali
Kathirikka Kathirikka
SAX LULLABY (Kadri Gopalnath) - Hidden Track

Side B
Naan Paadum Sandham
En Kadhalae - S.P. Balasubramaniam & Noell James
Kulicha Kuthaalam
TITLE MELODY - Kadri Gopalnath
En Kadhalae (Chitra) - Hidden Track
Vennilavin Theril Yeri

Duet/Maindan - Ramy Records - ACD 1238 - CD - Switzerland
The Ramy Records CD of "Duet" is somewhat of a "Holy Grail" among the CD collectors of A.R. Rahman as it is reportedly the only CD release that contains all the 13 tracks of the soundtrack including the poem recitals. I've seen only the sleeve scans of this CD. As usual, the "LOVE IS TORTURE" track was merged together at the beginning of "En Kadhalae" by S.P. Balasubramaniam. The credit mentioned Chitra's name as well for "En Kadhalae". I believe her short rendition of the song was merged together at the end of the track. The "Instrument" track probably refers to "SAX LULLABY" by Kadri Gopalnath, and the 2 poem recitals have been included at the end of the CD.

Mettu podu... Mettu podu...
Vannilavin Theril Eari...
Kulicha Kuttalam...
Kathirikka... Kathirikka...
En Kaathale... - S.P. Balasubramaniam & Chitra
Anjali... Anjali...
Naan Paadum Sandham...
Title Melody - Kadri Gopalnath
Instrument - A.R. Rahman
Kavithaikku & Sithathinal - Prabhu & Sreeja

Bombay/Duet - Aditya Music - AMIL 17008 - CD - India (June 2009)
Aditya Music released their version of "Duet" on CD after they had acquired the copyright to Pyramid's music catalog. It was released as a combo CD together with "Bombay". 

Vennilavin Theril Yeri
Mettuppodu Mettuppodu
Anjali Anjali
Kathirikka Kathirikka
En Kadhalae - S.P. Balasubramaniam & Noell James
Kulicha Kuthaalam
Naan Paadum Sandham
Dialogues with Saxophone

The "Dialogues with Saxophone" is a combination of 3 tracks starting with the 2 poem recitals of "Kavithaikku Porul Thandha" by Prabhu/Sreeja, and followed with "Saththathinaal Vantha" by Prabhu, and ending with the saxophone rendition by Kadri Gopalnath of the song "Naan Paarthathilae" from the 1966 movie "Anbe Vaa" starring M.G.R. with music by M.S. Viswanathan. Was this rendition included in the original cassette released from Pyramid in 1994?

Veera/Duet - Sangeeth - SGH 007 - CD - U.S.A.
The "LOVE IS TORTURE" track is included as a separate track in this release of the CD.

Vennilavin Theril Yeri
Mettuppodu Mettuppodu
Anjali Anjali
Kathirikka Kathirikka
Naan Paadum Sandham
LOVE IS TORTURE - Noell James
En Kadhalae - S.P. Balasubramaniam
TITLE MELODY - Kadri Gopalnath

Honest Raj/Duet/Kuyile Thoppu - Blockbuster - BB 3003 - CD
Vennilavin Theril Yeri
Mettuppodu Mettuppodu
Anjali Anjali
En Kadhalae - S.P. Balasubramaniam & Noell James
Kulicha Kuthaalam

Credits from the "Duet" Movie
The date of issue of the Indian film certification for "Duet" was on 17 May 1994. 

Lyrics by Vairamuthu.

Classical Sax by Kadri Gopalnath.

Western Sax by Raju.

The songs audiography by H. Sridhar, and S. Sivakumar with assistance from Samidurai, J. Ramesh, and Noell James, and recorded at Panchathan Record Inn.

The singers on the soundtrack were S.P. Balasubramaniam, K.J. Yesudas, Chitra, Sujatha, T.K. Kala, and Noell James.

Tracks Order in the "Duet" Movie
TITLE MELODY - Kadri Gopalnath
Naan Paadum Sandham
Mettuppodu Mettuppodu
SAX LULLABY - Kadri Gopalnath
Kulicha Kuthaalam
Anjali Anjali
Naan Paarthathilae - Kadri Gopalnath
Kathirikka Kathirikka
Kavithaikku Porul Thandha - Prabhu & Sreeja
Saththathinaal Vantha - Prabhu
Vennilavin Theril Yer
En Kadhalae - S.P. Balasubramaniam