Pink Floyd has teamed up with singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Ukrainian band Boombox to record a new song titled “Hey Hey Rise Up” in support of the people of Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country.
The track is being released via streaming formats globally at midnight on Friday, April 8, while a companion music video has premiered at Pink Floyd’s YouTube channel.
This marks the first new original music Pink Floyd has recorded as a band since the 1994 album The Division Bell. The group’s lineup for the track was guitarist David Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason and longtime Pink Floyd touring bassist Guy Pratt, as well as Nitin Sawhney on keyboards, and the aforementioned Khlyvnyuk on lead vocals.
The track, which was recorded on Wednesday, March 30, uses vocals taken from a recent Instagram post showing Andriy singing the Ukrainian protest song “The Red Viburnum in the Meadow” while standing in Sofiyskaya Square in the city of Kyiv. The song, which was written during World War I, has become an anthem in Ukraine protesting Russia’s invasion.
Gilmour, who has a Ukrainian daughter-in-law, says, “We, like so many, have been feeling the fury and the frustration of this vile act of an independent, peaceful democratic country being invaded and having its people murdered by one of the world’s major powers.”
David got to know Boombox when he played with the band — minus Khlyvnyuk — at a 2015 concert in London. After seeing Andriy’s Instagram video, he was inspired to write music to accompany the vocals, and “Hey Hey Rise Up” was born.
Regarding the track, Gilmour says, “I hope it will receive wide support and publicity. We want to raise funds for humanitarian charities, and raise morale.”
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