BoomBox vocalist and Ukraine native Andriy Khlyvnyuk may sing the following lyrics, but the popular music-knowing world would not soon mistake his dream lineup of a backing band on his latest single. Long-dormant Pink Floyd, the English psychedelic and space rock outfit, is back once more with a mission of healing.
Oy u luzi chervona kalyna pokhylylasya Chohos’ nasha slavna Ukrayina zazhurylasya A my tuyu chervonu kalynu pidiymemo A my nashu Slavnu Ukrayinu, hey, hey, rozveselymo A my nashu Slavnu Ukrayinu, hey, hey, rozveselymo
[English translation:]
Oh, in the meadow a red viburnum has bent down low For some reason, our glorious Ukraine is in sorrow And we’ll take that red viburnum and we will raise it up And we shall cheer for our glorious Ukraine, hey, hey And we shall cheer for our glorious Ukraine, hey, hey
The above is a select excerpt of the chorus to “Hey, Hey, Rise Up!” The track was recorded on March 30 at Pink Floyd lead guitarist David Gilmour’s home. As the same-day recorded music video prefaces, “On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. BoomBox singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk ended his US tour and returned home to Kyiv to defend his country. Three days later, he posted a video on Instagram, singing the Ukrainian song ‘The Red Viburnum in the Meadow.’ Now Pink Floyd has joined with Andriy to support his message of resistance.”
After being shown the post by Ukrainian artist Janina Pedan, wife to his son, Charlie, and mother to his grandchildren, Gilmour was inspired to get the band back together again.
Though they hadn’t recorded original music since “The Division Bell” (1994), the band sporadically reunited – including in 2013 to extract mostly ambient noise and instrumental compositions leftover from these sessions and release it as their 15th studio album, “The Endless River” (2014).
Gilmour’s first matter of business: contacting the band’s drummer, Nick Mason, to help him reverse the publicly-uttered line that there would never be another reunion.
In his pitch, Gilmour noted it was utterly important they become involved (in the Russo-Ukrainian War), saying, “It’s a really difficult and frustrating thing to see this extraordinarily crazy, unjust attack by a major power on an independent, peaceful, democratic nation.”
Next, Gilmour paid the unknowing man behind the mission a visit. While hospitalized due to shrapnel wounds sustained from fighting in defense of his beloved home, Khlyvnyuk rewarded Gilmour and the remaining ‘Floyd’ faithful, Mason and bassists Guy Pratt, permission to use his voice for their grand gesture. Interestingly enough, Gilmour had once been backed by a Khlyvnyuk-less BoomBox in 2015.
Gilmour, Mason and Pratt were joined by keyboardist Nitin Sawhney. The song commences with a sample of “Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow” by the Veryovka Ukrainian Folk Choir.
The song was released onto streaming services on Friday, April 8. All proceeds will go to the Ukraine Humanitarian Relief Fund. Based on early sales, Billboard projects the song will be announced at Number 5 on the UK Charts this Friday.
Despite the song’s success, a camp of naysaying, passionate rock fans have contended it’s improper for Pink Floyd to release music under their umbrella without also welcoming back living former member Roger Waters into the fold. However, Fraser Lewry of Classic Rock disputes this notion.
“When thousands have been killed and millions have fled their homes,” he wrote, “moaning about the absence of a band member who left 37 years ago [Waters] is churlish at best. At worst, it’s contemptuous of the suffering.”
“I hope it will receive wide support and publicity,” said Gilmour. “We want to raise funds and morale. We want to show 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.”
Give it a listen. Then, give it another. Then share it with a friend. There are no small contributions in the global quest to help bring this madness to a swift end.
