Last March PINK FLOYD(Dave Gilmour and Nick Mason) released the band’s
first new original music in 25 years with opera-like anthem HEY HEY RISE UP.
A song written by David Gilmour (who has Ukrainian family) in support of charity fund Ukrainian Humanitarian Relief. The majestic composition features a monumental vocal performance by Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the popular Ukrainian band BoomBox.
Now the news came in that this special humdinger will be available as both a 7-inch vinyl and CD single on July 15 in the UK, Europe and other markets, while it will be released on August 3 in Japan. In North America, Canada, Australia and Mexico, it will arrive on October 21. Pre-order info here.
David Gilmour: “In 2015, I played a show at Koko in London in support of the Belarus Free Theatre. Pussy Riot and the Ukrainian band, Boombox, were also on the bill. They were supposed to do their own set, but their singer Andriy had visa problems, so the rest of the band backed me for my set – we played ‘Wish You Were Here’ for Andriy that night. Recently 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.”
The track uses Andriy’s vocals taken from his Instagram post of him in Kyiv’s Sofiyskaya Square singing Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow a patriotic Ukrainian anthem that emerged during the first world war. The title of this new Pink Floyd song is taken from the last line of the song which translates as ‘Hey, hey, rise up and rejoice’. The melodramatic opening choral parts are by the Ukrainian Veryovka Folk Song and Dance Ensemble.
You can watch singer/soldier Andriy Khlyvnyuk singing the song for his unfortunate
countrymen (that inspired Gilmour to write the gripping goosebumps piece) here.
Listen to Hey Hey Rise Up and buy the charity song on iTunes…
