Angely Mercado

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Singer and songwriter Elli Perry shot an award winning music video for her song “Burn The River Down” in an old warehouse in Bushwick by a Brooklyn based crew. 

The traveling singer came up with the song 10 minutes before a performance. She jotted it down on a napkin. 

“I heard the melody in my head and knew the words felt right, so I threw caution to the wind and decided to open the show by singing it a cappella,” said Perry through a press release. “I started stomping and clapping, and it just suddenly swelled up out of me and got the room’s attention.” 

Perry’s friend Shawn Engler, saw her perform it again nights later and approached her about shooting a music video. 

Since then “Burn the River Down” has been “screened at more than 20 festivals nationally and the recipient of multiple awards and accolades, Burn the River Down is a single-shot, live performance of the album’s haunting a cappella middle track.” 

Take a look at the clean lines, the immaculate framing that brings all the focus to Perry’s powerful vocals in the music video: 

The video has done well in various national and local festivals. Most recently, the video won an award in the New York Independent Film Festival. It also did very well at the Coney Island Film Festival and Brooklyn Music Week. 


Here’s to hoping that Bushwick will continue to inspire more award winning art and culture. 

Cover image courtesy of Elli Perry

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