Pink Floyd teams up with Ukrainian musician to release charity track

A night shot of Independence Square in Kyiv. Photo credit: Maksym Diachenko
About three weeks after removing their music from streaming services in Russia and Belarus, Pink Floyd have reunited to record a song in support of Ukraine.
Pink Floyd today taken to social media to announce the streaming service’s impending debut of the charity song, titled “Hey Hey Rise Up.” “All proceeds from the song” – the act’s first new musical release in 28 years – will be donated to Ukrainian Humanitarian Relief, the London-based rock band said. Fans will get the chance to stream the work on services like Spotify and Apple Music at midnight tonight, and the song made its way to YouTube this afternoon.
On the personnel front, “Hey Hey Rise Up” features 76-year-old Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour and 78-year-old founding member Nick Mason, as well as veteran bassist Guy Pratt (who has replaced Roger Waters on Pink Floyd’s A Momentary Lapse of). Reason Tower), Immigrants artist Nitin Sawhney and Andriy Khlyvnyuk, a member of 18-year-old Ukrainian rock band BoomBox.
(Of course, Waters wasn’t involved in the creation of “Hey Hey Rise Up.” But the 78-year-old made his stance on the war in Ukraine clear via a long message last month and is set to kick off the This Is Not a Drill tour in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in July.)
David Gilmour, Pink Floyd revealed, “has a daughter-in-law and grandchildren from Ukraine,” and the Cambridge native has issued a statement about the dispute.
“We, like so many others, have felt the fury and frustration of this despicable act of an independent and peaceful democratic country being invaded and seeing its people murdered by one of the world’s major powers,” said the six-time nominee. at the Grammy (and sole winner) Gilmour.
“The track’s artwork features a painting of Ukraine’s national flower, the sunflower, by Cuban artist Yosan Leon,” Pink Floyd explained in the song’s YouTube description. “The single’s cover makes a direct reference to the woman who has been seen around the world giving sunflower seeds to Russian soldiers and telling them to carry them in their pockets so that when they die the sunflowers will sprout.”
As of this writing, the YouTube upload of “Hey Hey Rise Up” — which only went live this afternoon, as mentioned — had racked up north of 611,000 views. About a week ago, a “Concert for Ukraine” event featuring Ed Sheeran, Camila Cabello, Nile Rodgers and others raised nearly $18 million, while Pussy Riot around the start of march generated over $6.4 million with an NFT Ukrainian flag.
In addition to these fundraising efforts, more than a few music industry companies, from major labels to Spotify and Live Nation to Downtown’s FUGA, have ceased operations in Russia.