El Foco de Atelier

Foco De Atelier (FDA) started in 2003 without much of a manifesto but plenty of energy and love of making people dance. El Foco de Atelier was originally called Saffron, and the music was more English than Spanish. Tarun Krishnan, originally from Bombay, Indian was a high school student at the time, found two friends (Eric Haque(drummer) and Eugenio Salinas(guitar) to accompany him in his first foray into playing live music, and met Hugo Valdez, a Mexican bass player. Three years later Saffron changed its name to El Foco de Atelier for the band members and the genre was metamorphosing to what it is today. El Foco de Atelier is the combination of two names . Hugo came up with Foco, which means "Light bulb" or “lit” as a slang word in Spanish. Later, Tarun came up with “Atelier” which means an artist center of creativity. The combinations of meanings FOCO de Atelier means "the lit center of creativity".
Soon after Eric and Eugenio decided to leave the band and after many failed attempts to replace them a perfect match for the band was finally found. Ricky Mendoza, a guitarist from El Salvador replaced Eugenio and Felipe Sanez a drummer from Juarez MX replaced Eric. The band now had a distinctive edge of being bicultural and trilingual which makes the band so unique.
After several years of development by playing at bars and clubs, FDA was asked to participate in the MTV3 Battle of the Bands back in February of 2010. The learning experience of participating in this Battle of the Bands was an eye opening experience after winning 2nd place. Short after another Battle of the Bands at a venue called Trees, is known for where all sorts of different bands perform invited FDA to participate. Taking into consideration that they needed to step it up to win, they creatively added 2 new instruments, a saxophone & trumpets. Which are played by Ivan Diaz de Leon and Josh Ponce – trumpets and Esteban Diaz - saxophone. These additions gave the band an advantage to sweep 1st place.
As a result the band was later signed to MODA Music Management owned by Michelle Sanchez, CEO of also MODA Modelos. Michelle saw the potential that FDA has a very good chance to being discovered and eventually be signed on to a record label. Through her guidance of development and power of networking this goal should soon be attainable.
Foco de Atelier remains focused and is daily generating new fans through social medias and local performances. FDA will soon record their first album under the direction of professional recording engineers at Valley of the Kings Recording Studio and later be released this year.
FDA ‘s genre is considered Alternative Rock with ska influences. However we can't be considered one single genre for we captivate many different audiences. Our music is euphoric, upbeat, frenzy, fresh and innovative which is performed in English, Spanish and even Hindi. Taking influences from bands like Cafe Tacuba and Radiohead they have learned to keep their integrity as a priority and first and foremost be a great source of enjoyment and jovial vibe to their fans.