Pink Floyd Reunites After 28 Years to Raise Money for the People of Ukraine
Pink Floyd has reunited to help Ukraine. The British rock group released a new song for the first time since 1994’s The Division Bell to raise money for the Ukraine Humanitarian Relief Fund. Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the band BoomBox joined Pink Floyd on the new song “Hey Hey Rise Up.”
Pink Floyd feel ‘fury and frustration’ watching Russia invade Ukraine
Pink Floyd members David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Nitin Sawhney, and Guy Pratt could no longer sit back and watch without acting. In an announcement on their official Twitter account, the group 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.”
Legendary guitarist Gilmour spurred the new song effort telling The Guardian he called his bandmates who immediately got on board.
“I wouldn’t do this with many more things, but it’s so vitally, vitally important that people understand what’s going on there and do everything within their power to change that situation,” he said.
“And the thought, also, that mine and Pink Floyd’s support of the Ukrainians could help boost morale in those areas: they need to know the whole world supports them.”
Gilmour shared his emotions, “It’s really a difficult and frustrating thing to see this extraordinarily crazy, unjust attack by a major power on an independent, peaceful, democratic nation.”
“The frustration of seeing that and thinking ‘what the f*** can I do?’ is sort of unbearable.”
For Pink Floyd, the answer was music. A protest song to show support and express the pain, frustration, defiance, and unbearable sadness only a war can create.
Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk provides vocals on Hey Hey Rise Up
Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the band BoomBox was on tour in America when Russia invaded Ukraine. He canceled the remaining dates to return to his home country. There, he joined a territorial defense unit. The rockstar is now a soldier desperately fighting to protect his country.
Gilmour performed with BoomBox at a 2015 London benefit for Belarus Free Theater. Recently, he found a video on Instagram of Khlyvnuk standing in front of Kyiv’s St Sofia Cathedral singing the 1914 Ukrainian protest song “Oh, the Red Viburnum.” Wearing fatigues with a rifle slung over his shoulder while singing, the video went viral.
Gilmour said it was “a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music.” Pink Floyd’s “Hey Hey Get Up” samples Khlyvnyuk’s performance with signature screaming guitar riffs punching home the emotion. Gilmour has created a new protest song for Ukraine to rally behind.
A Sunflower and a moment of hope
Fans will surely rejoice at new music from the group. Pink Floyd hung it up after the release of The Division Bell in 1994. In 2014 Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason reunited to turn outtakes from that album into The Endless River. The mostly instrumental project was a tribute to Pink Floyd’s deceased keyboard player, Rick Wright, who died from cancer in 2008.
Today, Pink Floyd released a new song and music video. The video for the new single was filmed and shot on the same day the track was recorded last week.
The moving music video shows clips of the band playing, Khlyvnyuk singing, and scenes from the invasion of Ukraine. A powerful moment toward the end shows Ukrainian children singing along to the historical protest song.
Gilmour shared, “Janina Pedan made the set in a day, and we had Andriy singing on the screen while we played, so the four of us had a vocalist, albeit not one who was physically present with us.”
The artwork for “Hey Hey Get Up” displays a painting of a bright yellow sunflower, the national flower of Ukraine.
The single is now available on streaming platforms.
