Volodymyr Mykolaiovych Perzhylo (1938-2018) - Ukrainian singer, composer, conductor, ethnographer, folklorist, priest
Biography
Volodymyr Perzhylo was born on 4 February 1938 in Oleshychi, Lubaczów Poviat, Ryashkiv Oblast (Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Poland). His father was Mykola, his mother was Hanna Radovets, and his sister was Stefania.
His mother had a good singing voice and dramatic talent, and took part in performances in the Ukrainian language. Thanks to their mother, Volodymyr and his sister Stefania memorised a huge number of songs from an early age.
In 1946, as a result of Operation Vistula, the family was deported to Soviet Ukraine and settled in the village of Mali Lanky, Peremyshliany district, Lviv region.
After graduating from high school and serving in the army, Volodymyr entered the Filaret Kolessa Lviv Music and Pedagogical College, graduating with honours. Later, he was accepted to the second year of the Mykola Lysenko Lviv State Conservatory, where he studied at the conducting and vocal faculties with the luminaries of Ukrainian music: S. Liudkevych, A. Kos-Anatolsky, E. Kozak, P. Muravsky, and others.
While still a student, he married, and his daughter Solomiia and son Mykhailo were born.
He worked as an artist of the Honoured Choir "Trembita", the choir "Boyan" (under the direction of Yevhen Vakhniak), held the position of choir director and teacher of musical disciplines at the Lviv Music and Pedagogical College named after Filaret Kolessa.
He was a member of the board of the Lviv Regional Social and Cultural Society "Liubachivshchyna".
He organised a song and dance ensemble at the Pidhiria Zoo Institute. As an artistic director and deputy director of the present Lviv State Palace of Aesthetic Education of Students (Lviv Palace of Arts or Petrushevych Palace), he directed the men's choir "Surma".
He was the first director and conductor of the Obriy Folk Choir of the People's House in the village of Zymna Voda, Lviv region.
He headed the ethnographic section of the Lviv Regional Music Society "Lemkivshchyna" (?) (the modern All-Ukrainian Society "Lemkivshchyna"). He organised a creative team with the participation of artists (Olha Khoma, Yurii Khoma, Yaroslava Kryloshanska, Ada Razina, and others) and poets (Vasyl Khomyk, Ivan Hnatiuk, Mykola Petrenko). In this line-up, they toured many cities and villages with concerts.
In 1968, he went on tour to the Volgograd and Astrakhan regions. There he established close cooperation with the Taras Shevchenko Scientific Society. Since then, he has devoted his life to researching and preserving the traditions of the Ukrainian people's life and song folklore.
He made several folklore and ethnographic expeditions from Lemkivshchyna to Slobozhanshchyna, during which he recorded audio and video of his meetings with representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora. The main purpose of the expeditions was to study the state of folklore, language, and life in Ukrainian villages, as well as to establish creative and cultural ties with them.
In Lviv, based on the materials of one of Volodymyr Perzhylo's expeditions, a map of the settlement of Ukrainians beyond the Volga River was published under the title "Yellow Wedge", which was included in the series "Unified Ukraine".
Volodymyr Perzhylo also published a book about this topic, The Forgotten Branch of the Ukrainian People. And his impressions of Sumy and essays about the composers of Sumy region were published under the title "From Lemkivshchyna to Slobozhanshchyna", published by "Lyubachivshchyna" LLC.
He died and was buried in Lviv region on 17 June 2018.
Bibliography
"In search of national sources". Zoloti Vorota magazine, no. 3, 1993. Some reprints from pp. 100-108
"Field notes from 1991 in the Volgograd region"
"Khokhly on the Volga". Dzvin magazine, 1994, 11-12, pp. 170-171.
"Ukrainian Diaspora in the Lower Volga Region".
"The forgotten branch of the Ukrainian people"
"With a song from Lemkivshchyna to Slobozhanshchyna"
"A story about Ukrainians who, due to certain circumstances, became Khokhlas" web article on the website Ukrainians of Russia. Kobza
