Pink Floyd has composed a new original song, a first since 1994, in support of the Ukrainian people, which was released overnight from Thursday April 7 to Friday April 8 by the band’s record label and social media. “Hey, Hey, Rise-Up! (Hey, Hey, Get up! Editor’s note) will be used to raise funds for humanitarian works. On this title, pillars David Gilmour and Nick Mason use the voice of Andriy Khlyvnyuk, of the Ukrainian group Boombox.
“Like many others, we felt fury and frustration witnessing this despicable act of invading an independent and peaceful democratic country and having its people murdered by one of the greatest powers in the world” , explains Gilmour in a press release.
“Recently, I read that Andriy had left his American tour with Boombox to return to Ukraine and engage in territorial defense”, continues this figure of Pink Floyd. He also saw on Instagram this video shot in a square in kyiv where the artist “sings in the silence of a city without traffic or the slightest noise because of the war”. “It was a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music,” he adds.
‘Putin must go’
Gilmour says he managed to talk with Andriy Khlyvnyuk from his hospital bed in kyiv, where he was recovering from a mortar splinter wound, the record company still exposes. “I played him a little bit of the song on the phone and he gave me his blessing. I hope we can do something together and in person soon, ”continues Gilmour.
READ ALSOWar in Ukraine: the dilemma of artists
The visual of the title represents a sunflower, one of the symbols of Ukraine, and is inspired by a viral video on social networks. It showed a Ukrainian woman insulting two armed Russian soldiers and throwing at them: “Take these seeds and put them in your pockets. That way sunflowers will grow when you all rest here. »
“Putin must go,” Gilmour tweeted at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. All music by Pink Floyd (since 1987) and solo Gilmour has also been removed from Russian and Belarusian streaming sites as a sign of “strong condemnation of the Russian invasion”, according to Pink Floyd’s social networks.