Pink Floyd -- David Gilmour and Nick Mason -- have reunited for new song "Hey Hey Rise Up" in support of the people of Ukraine. This is the first new original music they've recorded together in 28 years-- since their 1994 album The Division Bell.
Gilmour and Mason are joined by Pink Floyd touring bassist Guy Pratt, who is the son-in-law of the late Pink Floyd keyboardist Rick Wright, along with Nitin Sawhney on keyboards, and vocalist Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the Ukrainian band Boombox.
Gilmour told The Guardian, "I rang Nick up and said, ‘Listen, I want to do this thing for Ukraine. I’d be really happy if you played on it and I’d also be really happy if you’d agree to us putting it out as Pink Floyd.' And he was absolutely on for that.”
He added, “It’s Pink Floyd if it’s me and Nick, and that is the biggest promotional vehicle; that is, as I said, the platform that I’ve been working on for my whole adult life, since I was 21. 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. 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."
They recorded the song last Wednesday with Andriy’s vocals taken from an Instagram post of him singing in Kyiv’s Sofiyskaya Square.
The song titled "The Red Viburnum in the Meadow" is a Ukrainian protest song which was written during the first World War. The title of the Pink Floyd track is taken from the last line of the song which translates to English as ‘Hey Hey Rise up and rejoice’.
Gilmour, whose daughter-in-law is Ukrainian, 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...”
He added, “I hope [the song] will receive wide support and publicity. We want to raise funds for humanitarian charities, and raise morale. We want 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.”
[Source: Classic Hits Today]