Pink Floyd Releases Song in 30 Years to Support Ukraine

Pink Floyd has reassembled in order to record and release a song in favor of Ukraine. The single “Hey Hey Rise Up” is the first time they’ve collaborated on a song since 1994’s “The Division Bell”.

It contains David Gilmour and Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, as well as Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the band Boombox, who sings a Ukrainian protest song in Kyiv’s Sofiyskaya Square in an Instagram post. The new song’s title is derived from the song’s final lyric, “The Red Viburnum in the Meadow.”

Bassist Guy Pratt and keyboardist Nitin Sawhney are also featured on the album. The music video for “Hey Hey Rise Up” was shot on the same day as the recording. It features images of anti-war rallies and destruction in Ukraine intercut with footage of the band performing.

“We want to show the world that the majority of the world believes it is completely unacceptable for a superpower to assault the independent democratic republic that Ukraine has become,” Gilmour added.

The video begins with text indicating that Khlyvnyuk cancelled a Boombox tour in the United States in order to return to Ukraine and defend his motherland. Three days later, he shared the Instagram video from which his vocals were stolen.

Khlyvnyuk had a shrapnel wound and was healing in a Kyiv hospital when Gilmour contacted him, according to the band.

Gilmour explained, “I played him a little piece of the song down the phone line and he gave me his blessing.” “In the future, we both hope to do something together in person.”

According to the band, all revenues from “Hey Hey Rise Up” will go toward humanitarian help in Ukraine.

The United Nations Human Rights Council suspended Russia on Thursday for “gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights” and “violations of international humanitarian law” in the invasion of Ukraine, according to the decision. Meanwhile, the US Senate unanimously decided to suspend regular commercial relations with Russia and Belarus and to restrict all Russian oil imports and energy products.