The single Hey Hey, Rise Up – Pink Floyd’s first original new music in almost 30 years – was recorded last week and features Andriy Khlyvnyuk’s song from Ukrainian band Boombox, which was taken from a social media post.
Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour said he learned that Khlyvnyuk – with whom he had previously appeared – left a US tour with the Boomboxes and returned to Ukraine to join the Territorial Defense Forces.
“Then I saw this incredible video on Instagram, where he stands in a square in Kyiv with this beautiful church with a golden dome and sings in the silence of a city without movement or noise due to the war,” Gilmour told Pink Floyd. Website.
“It was a strong moment that made me want to put it in music.”
The singer of the popular Ukrainian rock band Boombox, Andriy Khlyvnyuk, a member of the territorial defense, is standing near his car after buying food for citizens who were hiding in a shelter in Kyiv on March 2. (Efrem Lukatsky / The Associated Press)
Gilmour said he spoke to Khlyvnyuk while he was in a hospital in Kyiv recovering from a gunshot wound.
“I played some of the song on the phone and he gave me his blessing. We both hope to do something together personally in the future,” he said.
Gilmour said he had a Ukrainian bride and grandchildren and felt “the anger and frustration” of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has said it is taking part in a special operation to downgrade Ukraine’s military capabilities and eradicate nationalists.
The track, in which Khlyvnyuk sings a protest song about World War I, also features Nick Mason, a founding member of Pink Floyd, as well as Gilmour and other musicians.
CLOCKS Hey Hey, Rise Up by Pink Floyd:
