Pink Floyd Share New Song ‘Hey Hey Rise Up’ In Support Of Ukraine

Pink Floyd have released a new single entitled “Hey Hey Rise Up” to raise money for the people of Ukraine.

The single the first new original music that Pink Floyd have recorded together as a band since 1994’s The Division Bell.

Guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason are joined by long-time Pink Floyd bass player Guy Pratt and Nitin Sawhney on keyboards. The song also features an extraordinary vocal performance by Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Ukrainian band Boombox.

The track, recorded late last month, uses Andriy’s vocals taken from his Instagram post of him singing in Kyiv’s Sofiyskaya Square. The song itself, “The Red Viburnum In The Meadow,” is a rousing Ukrainian protest song written during the first world war which has been taken up across the world over the past month in protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The title of the Pink Floyd track is taken from the last line of the song which translates as “Hey Hey Rise up and rejoice.” The song’s opening choral parts are by Ukrainian VERYOVKA Folk Song and Dance Ensemble.

Gilmour, who has a Ukrainian daughter-in-law and grandchildren said, “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.”

Gilmour said he hopes the track will receive wide support and publicity, adding, “We want to raise funds for humanitarian charities and raise morale. We want to 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.”