Born on February 4, 1938, in the town of Oleszyce (Poland).

 

At the age of 8, during the operation “Vistula”, together with his family, he was deported to Soviet Ukraine - this is how he ended up in Lviv region.

Thanks to his mother, who had a good voice and dramatic talent, Volodymyr from childhood knew a huge number of Ukrainian songs.

 

When the young man faced the problem of choosing a profession, he with no doubts decided to devote his life to music.

He graduated with honours from Lviv Musical and Pedagogical School Named after Filaret Kolessa, worked as an artist of the honoured Ukrainian choir “Trembita”, studied at two faculties of Lviv Conservatory – conducting and vocal.

 

In 1968, still being a student at the Conservatory, he was on tour in Volgograd and Astrakhan as part of the concert group “Young Voices of Ukraine”. There he was struck by the Ukrainians, who didn't avoid their native language, sang their songs. Since then, he began collecting folklore – both in Ukraine and abroad. After graduating from the Conservatory, he taught music at Lviv Pedagogical School. All his life, he wrote music, worked with various musical groups and ensembles, was a soloist of the choir chambers “Trembita” and “Boyan”. Under the direction of Professor Yevhen Vakhniak, he organized the “Pidhiria” song and dance ensemble.

 

Being the artistic director and deputy director of the present-day Palace of Petrushevych, he led the male choir "Surmy". He sang in the male vocal quartet "Pobratymy", was its leader. The repertoire of the team was oriented to the diaspora. They used every invitation to go on tour. He brought to the east Ukrainian classical literature, songbooks, school textbooks, books on the history of Ukraine, national flags and emblems (at that time – unofficial).

As an invited adviser, he participated in the organization of four festivals of Ukrainian culture in the Volgograd region (1992-2000). He made several field folk-ethnographic expeditions to the East.

 

In Volodymyr Perzhylo's private notes, we find the references to the expeditions of 1975 and 1991. His main goal was to explore the state of Ukrainian folklore, education, culture and to build creative and business contacts with the diaspora. “It's not only about the recording of material, although this is the main goal. Above all, it's about the communication of local Ukrainians with “real Ukrainians” – as they call us in Transvolga region." In Lviv, he created and published a map of Ukrainian settlements beyond the Volga called “Zhovtyi Klyn”, which was included in the “Synodic Ukraine” series. He registered more than 240 Ukrainian toponyms – the names of local settlements. One of the most painful topics of his conversations and memories was his native Liubachivshchyna.

 

He loved to tell different stories about his past, with his granddaughter Diana often examined the map of the lands that Liubachivshchians had to leave. He died at the age of 81 – June 17, 2018, and was buried in the Lviv region.