Members of Pink Floyd add musical tracks to the a capella version of "Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow" by Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk, seen projected behind them in military fatigues.
This story is part of War in Ukraine, CNET's coverage of events there and of the wider effects on the world.
Legendary English rock band Pink Floyd has come out of retirement to release Hey Hey Rise Up, a rousing anthem protesting Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The song, released Friday, features vocals from Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the band Boombox. Khlyvnyuk ended his US tour early and returned home to Kyiv to defend his country after the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, a move Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called a "war against the whole of Europe."
Three days after the invasion, Khlyvnyuk posted to Instagram a stirring a capella version of Oi u Luzi Chervona Kalyna (Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow), a Ukrainian patriotic march written in 1914 by composer Stepan Charnetskii. The song memorializes a Ukrainian military unit within the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I.
"In the meadow there a red kalyna has bent down low," the lyrics go, referring to the kalyna berry, a national symbol of Ukraine and of connection to the homeland. "For some reason, our glorious Ukraine has been worried so. And we'll take that red kalyna and we will raise it up."
Khlyvnyuk's version shows the singer armed and wearing military fatigues while standing in Kyiv's Sofiyskaya Square. The video for Hey Hey Rise Up includes footage from that recording, interspersed with images of Pink Floyd members on instruments, as well as tanks, explosions, displaced families and protesters waving Ukrainian flags. All proceeds from song downloads will go to Ukrainian Humanitarian Relief.