Flying High: Hunter’s Fund grant helps make music video soar
Hunter’s Grant Winner Louis Cardozo and his flying piano
Clearly the sky isn’t the limit for Louis Cardozo, an independent Bristol-based artist with a taste for fast-paced lyrics, stirring piano and Spanish guitar. His grant from Hunter’s Fund helped support a wild idea — a music video featuring Louis playing a flying piano! His hard work recently culminated in the release of that music video on YouTube.
The video promotes his song, “Fly,” which is about Louis’s experience of healing and coping with depression. “It’s a song about triumph despite our lowest moments,” Louis says. “[It’s] a song you can listen to when everything else has gone wrong.
He recently spoke with us about bringing his ideas to life, his many inspirations, and what he’s up to after the release of his music video.
The music video for “Fly” is definitely a family affair. Louis’s parents, uncle, and cousins all played integral parts in getting the project off the ground (literally). Brainstorming ideas back in 2021, Louis says his mother suggested a flying piano. His uncle’s experience with flying machines made that idea more feasible. “He gave me the confidence,” Louis says.
Following the release of his music video, Louis revisited “Fly” with a behind-the-scenes look. After picking up a baby grand piano secondhand, the Cardozo family got to work. With help from his cousins, Louis stripped the heaviest parts from the piano, punched holes in the remaining wood to make it lighter, and welded a steel frame to the outside. A bit of magic with Louis’s keyboard brought the piano back to life and in working order for the flight.
The fake room breaks away before Louis Cardozo takes to the skies in “Fly” music video
Along with the fabrication, Louis says his family helped in transporting the fake room seen in the music video and pushing the piano off the hill and into the air.
With many test flights and several months in between, Louis had to fight winter, wind and mud to see his idea take flight. “Up on the hill it generally gets very muddy,” he said. “The wind isn’t great in the winter either.”
“My dad was the weather guy,” Louis said. “For every flight my dad was there.”
Louis really credits his father with helping him prepare for the flight. With only a little paragliding experience himself, his father was able to provide support. “I’m not actually that experienced [with flying] so he had my back,” Louis said. “[This] gave me an excuse to get into flying a bit more. I grew up around it and we kind of took it for granted … until I did [the flying piano] project and that really allowed me to appreciate how cool it really is.”
After missing the test flights, Louis’s uncle was able to see the final flight after lending his flying machine expertise to the project. Some of Louis’s closest friends can also be seen in the video.
Louis says he has a couple of favorite moments in his music video, but one that really sticks out in his mind involves his niece. “My niece, who just happened to be up on the hill - the little blonde girl looking out at the view - was completely unplanned and it fit the mood really well.”
For Louis, a couple of fellow performers stand out to him as inspiration. Scottish singer Paolo Nutini has been on his playlist for a while. “I’ve listened to his songs since I was really young - since I had my sister’s iPod,” he says. “I love his voice.” Welsh songwriter Ren also moves Louis. “He does lots of really cool visual content, which I’m really inspired by,” he says.
Louis Cardozo in his “Fly” music video
So what’s next? Louis hopes to use the “Fly” music video as a marketing tool to kick off the release of some of his other work. “Six songs in six months,” he says, “starting with ‘Fly.’” The next songs on the release radar are “Witchdoctor,” which according to Louis is “a bit of a story song,” and his newest release, “Dreams.”
“I’ve been really sick with an autoimmune disease,” he says. “[Witchdoctor] is about that journey of going to different doctors and no one knowing what’s wrong with me and then turning to alternative medicine.”
For Louis, his music is healing. “When I’m playing, I really feel it,” he says. “It’s generally quite a therapeutic experience. … Even if I don’t like how I felt at the time, I always enjoy the music.”
“Fly” and “Witchdoctor” are a couple of his songs that deal with heavier topics. “A lot of my songs don’t really have that kind of depth to them and they’re more lighthearted or love songs … but the next couple of songs [I’ll be releasing] are exploring that self therapy,” he says.
“There’s a bit more sadness and pain in these next couple songs but there are happy bangers on the other side.”
Several flights were edited into one incredible music video for Louis Cardozo’s “Fly.”
Hunter’s Fund is excited to see all of Louis’s hard work pay off. “[Hunter’s Grant] opened so many doors,” Louis says. “I heard about you guys through my cousin. She said ‘You’re the exact person they want to fund.’”
“I read about Hunter and everything on the website you guys stood for,” he says, “[and thought] ‘this really fits with everything I like.’ I was touched by the whole story. Such an uplifting thing has come from it.”
Supporting talented musicians like Louis is what Hunter’s Fund is all about. “I feel like it’s boosted me so much, and even just when someone believes in your project, that’s a nice thing,” he says. We’re confident that we’ll be seeing more of Louis in the future.
“I do want to do another crazy music video,” Louis says. “I have a lot of big ideas.”