On April 7th of this year, Pink Floyd released their first single in 28 years. Andriy Khlyvnyuk, frontman of the Ukrainian rock band BoomBox, did the vocals in “Hey Hey Rise Up”. Proceeds were donated to a Ukraine relief fund. The song will be released on CD and vinyl in July.
The melody of the Ukrainian protest song “Oi u luzi chervona kalyna” can be heard in “Hey Hey Rise Up”. Below that, Gilmour/Mason put an instrumental track. But how did the collaboration come about? Gilmour and Khlyvnyuk have been friends since performing together. The session was created via Facetime – because Khlyvnyuk is in the hospital, he was injured by a grenade. Here the video.
Bonus track included
The CD single and vinyl record will be released on July 15th. There is also a bonus track for the fans. David Gilmour reinterprets “A Great Day For Freedom” from 1994’s The Division Bell. Featuring drummer Nick Mason, recordings of the late keyboardist Richard Wright and backing vocals by Sam Brown, Claudia Fontaine and Durga McBroom.
