“The Red Viburnum in the Meadow” is a patriotic battle march, whose lyrics include the refrain, “And we, our glorious Ukraine, shall, hey-hey, cheer up-and rejoice!,” and further, “Marching forward, our fellow volunteers, into a bloody fray, / For to free our brother Ukrainians from hostile chains. The reference to the song as a “protest,” with the implication that it was composed as an anti-war protest, is simply dishonest. The description in the Pink Floyd announcement refers to the tune as “a rousing Ukrainian protest song written during the first world war which has been taken up across the world over the past month in protest of the invasion of Ukraine.”īut, in fact, the song was written to honor of the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, a Ukrainian unit of the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I composed of members of different Ukrainian paramilitary organizations. The title of the Pink Floyd track is taken from the last line of a song written by Ukrainian composer Stepan Charnetsky in 1914. Given the association of Pink Floyd, at least until the early 1980s, with generally anti-war and anti-capitalist themes and messages, there are many troubling aspects to the new recording. The new song by what remains of Pink Floyd shows the degree to which many popular musicians have been swept along behind the pro-war propaganda barrage in support of right-wing Ukrainian nationalism and the US-backed NATO provocation against Russia. While opposing the reactionary Russian invasion, Waters recently commented that a “long drawn-out insurgency in Ukraine would be great for the gangster hawks in Washington, it’s what they dream of.” We will return to Waters’ comments below. Meanwhile, on the other hand, original Pink Floyd member Roger Waters (1965-1985) has expressed a far more critical view of the US-NATO operation. However, the track incorporates the vocals from an Instagram post by Khlyvnyuk, who sang the patriotic Ukrainian song, “The Red Viburnum in the Meadow,” in Kiev’s Sofiyskaya Square dressed in paramilitary fatigues and brandishing an assault rifle. The statement explains it was recorded on March 30 and has been released “in support of the people of Ukraine” and to raise funds for humanitarian charities. The two remaining members of the rock band Pink Floyd, David Gilmour and Nick Mason, have joined with other musicians, including the Ukrainian singer and member of the band BoomBox, Andriy Khlyvnyuk, and released a new song called, “Hey, Hey, Rise Up!”Īccording to a statement on the official Pink Floyd website, this is the first new single by the band since 1994.
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