The Art of Survival

So here's a novel way to spend five weeks as a cellist – go to Italy, hand over your purse and all your money to a TV company, then be introduced to someone you've never met. Your job? Get to Edinburgh for a performance in five weeks time, funding your journey with nothing other than money you have earned by using your talents as an artist.

Sound crazy? Yup, it did to me too, but then I watched the Sky Arts programme The Art of Survival, which did exactly that to four people. Two teams were pitted against each other with the challenge of getting to Edinburgh, and the additional task of seeing which team could raise the most money in the process.

Janie Price, cellist and singer/songwriter was one of the four, and when we meet in a London coffee shop she is exactly how I had envisaged her. But then that's not too surprising really – I don't think any one could really be followed around by a TV crew for five weeks and have it shown over six episodes without their real personality shining through. But a bit of background first, I think. Janie, originally from South London, has played the cello since she was six. Straight out of school she started working as a session musician, which she still does today. She is also known as  singer/songwriter Bird, signed to EMI.

How on earth then, did she end up being dumped in Italy?! Funnily enough, it was advertised as a job on uk.music-jobs.com, and came up just at the perfect time when Janie had a spare couple of months in the diary. “I'd never normally apply for jobs really – almost all session work is done by recommendation, but I just saw the advert and thought that being paid to play the cello for a couple of months sounded like an awesome opportunity. As a songwriter, I figured it would really refresh me to go back to basics again without the soft blanket of people around you all doing the same thing. I loved the thought that the whole idea of programme was to strip music down to its essence, and to be honest, I felt that as an artist, I needed a bit of rough really!”

“I had no relevant experience when it comes to busking though. Three of my friends and I busked outside Wimbledon station when I was a teenager, and we managed to collect one pound and a boiled sweet before being moved on by a distinctly unimpressed policeman!” It strikes me that getting yourself from Athens to Edinburgh solely on the back of your artistic talent suggests that that policeman might not have known a good thing when he saw it!

“the whole idea of the programme was to strip music down to its essence”

When pushed a bit on how truthful the programme is, Janie is very upfront. “It is completely honest. Some stuff you watch on TV that claims to be reality is clearly rigged, with people very obviously chosen for the problems they're going to cause. This programme really was honest to the challenge (with a bit of an exception, but more of that later) – we really didn't get any help from anyone, and I really did meat Johann on camera for the first time in Athens. In fact, we'd been told that we were going to be given a Euro each as a starter, and we didn't even get that. Hang on.. Sky owe me a Euro!”

And the exceptions? “Well there's the obvious thing like occasionally having to walk down the same bit of road three or four times whilst the cameras got the right shot, which is kind of OK, apart from the fact I had my luggage and a cello, so it was a bit of pain! But then the bigger conflict came when it came to certain moments with the production crew. A few times we'd found places that were working really well for us, and we were looking forward to exploring more artistic possibilities, but the production company were keen for us to move on and spend the money we'd earned so that we'd find ourselves broke again in a new town. I guess it makes better TV, but it did annoy me a bit.”

Ah. The conflict of a TV company. How was it, having the crew following you around? “Um... Kind of weird really. Actually, really weird to being with. I'm used to having crews around, but it's always been with a band or an orchestra in a setting that I'm comfortable with. Suddenly being the focussed subject was odd, particularly given they were there so much of the time. But after a while you just forgot about it. Mind you, they didn't really show quite how tough it was at times. Obviously the crew were sleeping in hotels and eating properly the whole time – so even after they'd filmed us settling down for a night sleeping rough, they'd go off to their hotel. It slightly makes it look like we had a bit of a more jolly time than we did really!”

Whilst we're on the sleeping rough question, what about your cello? Did you actually take your own cello with you? “Yup, but then luckily my cello isn't a massively expensive one – I've had it since I was 11, and it came through an exchange scheme from school. The girl in the other team took her real cello too, which turns out to be worth about sixty grand. That's all fine until you discover that she managed to drop it in the sea in Italy one night! Luckily it was in a waterproof case (as it turns out), and floated, so no lasting damage! Not sure how she'd have explained that one to the insurance company! Mind you, I'm not sure mine is quite the same since the adventure – I think it's suffered a bit.”

“we didn’t just find that kindness in one country - in every country there was at least one..”

I was completely bowled over by the TV series (do watch it if you can – it's being repeated at the moment, and you can probably find it on the internet), and I wonder what Janie thinks the best thing about the trip was. “Probably restoring my faith in the goodness of people in general. That sounds like a real hippy answer, but it really was that way. Most of the genuine help we got was when the TV crew weren't around – the people that we met just trusted in our story and would invite us in. There was even one couple who gave us a key although they weren't going to be in, and told us to have a shower, help ourselves to food! And we didn't just find that kindness in one country - in every country there was at least one extraordinary, kind, human being. Sometimes it's easy to get a bit cynical in London, and it was amazing to be out of that environment for a while. Admittedly, we did give people the opportunity to be nice by asking for help, but willingly so many people were so happy to help in a really beautiful exchange of kindness for our talents.”

I wonder if any of the countries jumped out at Janie as being her favourite, which she thinks about for a while. “It's a bit unfair really, because we did pretty much all of Italy, from one end to the other, so spent more time there than anywhere else. And I speak a bit of the lingo as well, so perhaps I'm a bit biased, but nonetheless, Italy!”

How did you decide the route? Was there any reason for the extra time in Italy? “Not really – we honestly just went with the flow and took the opportunities that came our way rather than feeling the pressure. For instance, we met a guy in Zurich who invited us to his house in Stuttgart for a couple of days if we'd entertain at a barbeque. There were a few rules to the competition – no flights allowed, and there was a limit to how far we were allowed to travel on any given day. Otherwise, one really good concert could have just got us all the way home! The only time we deliberately massaged the timings ourselves was towards the end of the trip. We decided that we'd find it too tricky to arrive home in England, only to have to leave home territory again to head up to Edinburgh, so we spent a bit longer in Holland and managed to get an overnight boat to Newcastle – that meant we could split our distance allowance over two days! Weirdly, I think it would be really interesting to try the same project around the UK, but I'd want to do it the same way and document it properly.”

It must have been weird being thrown together with someone you'd never met and told to travel with him for five weeks. Did you have much common ground? “Well, yes and no really – we're obviously both creative people, and quickly found a mutual respect for each other's talents that helped us work together really well. I have a degree in arts, so I understood his profession as well. But aside from that, not a lot – Johann is ten years younger than me, and we have quite different interests. As a fine artist, he's used to being immersed in his own world and environment whereas as a session musician I'm more commonly out and about with all sorts of different people day in day out. But it was fantastic that we are both similar in temperament – we really didn't have any rows or tension, unlike some of the terrible rows the other team appeared to have.”

I wonder if the sleeping rough or running out of money moments were the lowest points of the challenge, and am slightly surprised to hear that they weren't. “Actually, for me the worst bit was dealing with the clash of making a TV programme and taking an artistic challenge. The sleeping rough bit was more like a kid's camping trip really – it was never going to be the same as being homeless, as ultimately we knew that we were going to end up at home, and trusted to the TV company's insurance policy to make sure we didn't die! The bits of manipulation of the actual narrative probably got to me more than anything really, but then I suppose we were making a TV programme. And anyway, I got to have my say by writing a book about the experience!”

So it was a job? “Well yes – we were paid (but not until we got home – that would have rather defeated the object!). It was important to me that it was a job actually – that rather lent it credibility in my eyes when I was applying for it – it was part of the way I make my living as a musician.”

Janie Price is a session cellist and singer/songwriter. As Bird, she has released two albums (the most recent – Girl and a cello – earlier this year). Under her own name she writes a blog for the Huffington Post and has recently written A Real Journey, which is published by Beautiful Books and available from Waterstones, Amazon and all good bookshops. This is the full inside story of her journey making The Art of Survival. For more information on Janie, visit www.janieprice.co.uk