David Gilmour performs in the ancient roman amphitheater of the Pompeii archeological site
(Picture: AP)Pink Floyd have released their first new song in 28 years in support of Ukraine.
The song, titled “Hey Hey Rise Up”, marks the first original music the band have recorded together since 1994’s The Division Bell.
It features vocals from Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk, from pop-rock band Boombox.
Proceeds from the song will go to the Ukraine Humanitarian Relief Fund.
The track features David Gilmour and Nick Mason, as well as long-time collaborator and bass player Guy Pratt, with musician Nitin Sawhney on keyboard.
The song, which was recorded last week, features Khlyvnyuk’s vocals taken from a video of him, dressed in his Ukrainian army uniform in Kyiv’s Sofiyskaya Square, singing the patriotic Ukrainian protest song The Red Viburnum In The Meadow.
Guitarist Gilmour, 76, who has a Ukrainian daughter-in-law and grandchildren, said: “We, like so many, have been feeling the fury and 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 said of the song: “I hope it will receive wide support and publicity. We want to raise funds for humanitarian charities, and raise morale. We want to 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.”
Gilmour said he spoke to Khlyvnyuk, who was recovering in hospital from a mortar shrapnel injury, about the song, adding: “I played him a little bit down the phone and he gave me his blessing.”
The artwork for the single features a painting of a sunflower, the national flower of Ukraine, which is thought to be a reference to a Ukrainian woman who confronted Russian soldiers, offering them seeds to put in their pockets so that sunflowers would grow when they were killed on Ukrainian soil.
In March, Pink Floyd removed all its music from the past 35 years from digital providers in Russia and Belarus in protest at the war.
