What would you do if a man approached you in the street and asked you to put on his headphones? For 167 out of the 200 people Michael Burdett asked, their response was to listen. What met their ears was a version of Nick Drake’s soaring Cello Song, not heard for over 30 years.

In the Seventies, Burdett was a post-boy at Island Records when he came across a dumped tape intriguingly labelled, “Nick Drake, Cello Song. With love.” It was 20 years before he actually listened to it, discovering an earthy version of Drake’s famed song and another few years passed before he decided what to do with his discovery. Inspiredly, instead of releasing it into the online ether, Burdett  travelled the length and breadth of Britian, stopping some famous people and some not on streets, hills and work places to offer them a chance to hear the song. Each time, he took a portrait of the listener.

The results are now on display at the Idea Generation gallery in East London. The Strange Face Project, takes it’s name from the first line of Cello Song and also refers to the expressions Burdett observed of his listeners and a fitting ode to one of music’s lost talents.

The Strange Face Project is at the Idea Generation gallery until Sunday, February 12.
ideageneration.co.uk

Tags: Cello Song, Idea Generation, Michael Burdett, Nick Drake, The Strange Face Project