By Haykaram Nahapetyan
Mirror-Spectator Video Correspondent
CHEVY CHASE, Md. – According to an online-dictionary of acronyms, USA stands for not only the name of the country but over 50 different names and notions, ranging from US Airways to Uninterrupted Sharing Activity. The dictionary should also be aware of United Shades of Artistry, a band that Armenian-American composer and musician Levon Mikaelian created in 2014.
“I was not going for the U.S.A. acronym specifically when I was creating a name for the band. It happened naturally. However, when it came out as U.S.A., I realized that this is what U.S.A. as a country is all about: its a melting pot of different shades of arts, cultures, and nationalities,” Levon explained.
Today the band is better known as the Levon Mikaelian Trio. With two other non-Armenian musicians, the trio plays overwhelmingly Armenian tunes, rearranging existing traditional tracks or composing new ones.
“I started studying music with my dad as a child. Then I went to the musical school named after Mirzoyan, then the Tchaikovsky school, and finally Yerevan’s conservatory,” said Levon, relating his background in Armenia when he hosted me at his musical school known as Make a Wave in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
