The tune is the first new original music that they have recorded together as a band since 1994’s “The Division Bell.”
The track – whose title is taken from the last line of the song – sees David Gilmour and Nick Mason joined by long time Pink Floyd bass player Guy Pratt and Nitin Sawhney on keyboards, and features an extraordinary vocal performance by Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Ukrainian band Boombox.
Recorded last Wednesday (March 30th), the song 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 of the invasion of Ukraine.
Gilmour, who has a Ukrainian daughter-in-law and grandchildren 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.”
“Recently,” he explains, “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,” reveals Gilmour. “We both hope to do something together in person in the future.”
The video for “Hey Hey Rise Up” was filmed by director Mat Whitecross and shot on the same day as the track was recorded.
Pink Floyd will donate money raised from the song to the Ukraine Humanitarian Relief Fund.
Following the passing of Wright in 2008, Pink Floyd released their final album, “The Endless River”, in 2014; the set primarily features instrumentals originally recorded during sessions for “The Division Bell.”
See also:
Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason expands rescheduled North American tour
Roger Waters expands This Is Not A Drill North American tour
Pink Floyd stream Pulse concert film reissue
Pink Floyd stream performance of Division Bell track from Pulse reissue
Search Pink Floyd at hennemusic
