Members of the legendary British rock band Pink Floyd have reunited for the first time in almost 30 years to record a song in support of Ukraine with musician Andriy Khlyvnyuk.

David Gilmore and Nick Mason, two permanent members of the band that played in the band at the peak of its popularity, joined forces with composer, screenwriter and director Nitin Sony and bassist Guy Pratt to record Hey Hey Rise Up!

The musicians used the vocals of Ukrainian singer, member of the group “Boombox” Andriy Khlyvnyuk from a video posted on Instagram, where he performs the song “Oh in the meadow red viburnum” on Sofia Square in Kyiv.

The song became a real hit among Ukrainians and a symbol of future victory. The last line of this song gave the name of the new track Pink Floyd.

This is the band’s first record since 1994’s The Division Bell. According to Gilmore, whose daughter-in-law is Ukrainian, Khlyvnyuk’s performance in Kyiv was so powerful that it prompted him to write his own music.

For many years, Gilmore stubbornly resisted the persuasion of Mason and Roger Waters, two members (besides Sid Barrett) of the original group, to revive Pink Floyd. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced him to change his mind.

“We, like many others, were outraged and disappointed by this heinous act of one of the world’s most powerful nations invading an independent, peaceful, democratic country and killing its people,” Gilmore said.

He said that he first learned about the group “Boombox” and Khlyvnyuk when in 2015 he performed at a concert in London in support of the Free Theater of Belarus. Boombox was also on the program, but Khlyvnyuk was unable to attend at the time due to visa problems. As a result, the Boombox musicians played with David himself.

“I recently learned that Andriy interrupted his American tour with Boombox and returned to Ukraine to join the Territorial Defense Forces,” says the musician. against the background of the temple with golden domes and sings in silence, because there is no movement there because of the war. It was powerful, and I wanted to wrap it in musical form. ”

In an interview with The Guardian , Gilmore said he was unable to contact Khlyvnyuk immediately, but eventually found an email address. “He said he wanted to talk on FaceTime – I think he wanted to make sure it was me.”

“The next time we talked, he was in the hospital with a shrapnel wound. He showed me this tiny piece that stuck in his cheek. And you know, it could have been a splinter a little bit bigger that would have blown his head off.”

When Gilmore last spoke with Khlyvnyuk, the Ukrainian musician said, “that he had the most hellish day imaginable, he collected the bodies of Ukrainians and Ukrainian children from the streets.”

“You know, our problems look so pathetic and petty in the context of what’s going on there,” David Gilmore told The Guardian .

However, he sent a song to his Ukrainian colleague and “rejoiced and relieved that he liked it.”

Andriy Khlyvnyuk replied in a message: “Thank you, it’s great. One day we will play together, and then I will treat you to a good stout.” Gilmore agreed.

On March 11, Gilmore’s official website reported that he and the world strongly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying that all Pink Floyd recordings since 1987 and all of David Gilmore’s solo recordings since that day have been removed from digital platforms. Russia and Belarus.

“I hope the song will be widely supported and known around the world,” Gilmore said. “We want to raise money for charities and lift people’s spirits. We want to support Ukraine and show that in terms of everything the world’s superpower has no right to invade the independent democracy that Ukraine has become. ”

The video for the new song was written and directed by Matt Whitecross, and the single’s cover features Ukraine’s national flower, a sunflower, and works by Cuban artist Josan Leon.

The Ukrainian folk song “Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow” gained new popularity against the background of Russia’s war against Ukraine – and in particular after the leader of the group “Boombox” Andriy Khlyvnyuk sang it on Sofia Square.

The song is the anthem of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen and is known in several versions.

According to one version, the first version of the song was written by the famous poet, director and director of the Ukrainian Theater “Russian Conversation” Stepan Charnetsky in 1914.

In the finale of Vasyl Pachovsky’s tragedy about Hetman Doroshenko “Sun of Ruin”, which was staged by Charnetsky, the song “Was I not a viburnum in the meadow” was to be heard.

But the director wanted something optimistic, so he suggested another song – “Spilled steep banks” and slightly reworked the text.

In this version, the play was performed on stage. She was a resounding success. And the song, especially the last verse “Oh, red viburnum in the meadow” was immediately picked up by Galician youth.

In August 1914, Hryhoriy Trukh, a quartet (platoon commander) of Ukrainian Sich riflemen, heard her for the first time in Stryi.

He added three more verses to the verse “Oh in the Meadow” and taught the songs of the soldiers of his unit.

Thus, “Red Viburnum” sounded first in Stryi, then in Galicia and became the anthem of the Sich Riflemen, and soon it was sung all over Ukraine.

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