Pink Floyd release brand new single for Ukraine

Virgin Radio

8 Apr 2022, 07:27

Pink Floyd have released new original material for the first time since the 1990s in support of the people of Ukraine.

The new song, called Hey Hey Rise Up, is the first new original music that they have recorded together as a band since their 1994 album The Division Bell. All proceeds from the song will go to Ukraine Humanitarian Relief.

The track sees David Gilmour and Nick Mason joined by long-time Pink Floyd bass player Guy Pratt, and Nitin Sawhney on keyboards. It also features a vocal performance by Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Ukrainian band Boombox.

The new track uses Andriy’s vocals taken from his Instagram post of him singing a Ukrainian protest song in Kyiv’s Sofiyskaya Square. The song, Red Viburnum In The Meadow, originated in WWI, and has been taken up across the world over the past month in protest of the invasion of Ukraine. 

The title of the new Pink Floyd song is taken from the last line of Red Viburnum In The Meadow, which translates as “Hey Hey Rise up and rejoice”.

Guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour, who first met Andriy at one of his shows in London in 2015, said: “I read that Andriy had left his American tour with Boombox, had gone back to Ukraine, and joined up with the Territorial Defense. Then I saw this incredible video on Instagram, where he stands in a square in Kyiv with this beautiful gold-domed church and sings in the silence of a city with no traffic or background noise because of the war. It was a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music.”

While writing the music for the track, David managed to speak with Andriy from his hospital bed in Kyiv where he was recovering from a mortar shrapnel injury. “I played him a little bit of the song down the phone line and he gave me his blessing. We both hope to do something together in person in the future.”

You can watch the video for Hey Hey Rise Up here: 

Of the new song, Gilmour, who has a Ukrainian daughter-in-law and grandchildren said: “We want to raise funds for humanitarian charities, and raise morale. We want express our support for Ukraine and in that way, show that most of the world thinks that it is totally wrong for a superpower to invade the independent democratic country that Ukraine has become.”

You can stream the new Pink Floyd song on your chosen music service here.