S.A.F. (The Swiss American Federation) was founded in 1999 in a Hollywood record store on the infamous Sunset Blvd. by Christian B. and Marc Dold. After working sporadically on a few projects together, the duo soon discovered that they uniquely complemented one another despite their very different musical backgrounds. As a producer and DJ, Christian's roots are in electronic and dance music. He was an advocate of this genre of music long before it hit the mainstream. Marc Dold on the other hand grew up in a family of professional classical musicians. He majored in classical guitar, but had some additional experience as a rock producer and songwriter. With the evolution of music and the direction it was taking at the time of their meeting, it appeared to be an opportune moment for the duo to form S.A.F.

Four years later, S.A.F. has already amassed a very impressive collection. They've enhanced the music of many great artists as varied as Enya, Basement Jaxx, Orgy, Norah Jones, Peter Gabriel, Mandalay, Juanes, Soraya and Sarah Brightman, to name a few. In fact, S.A.F.'s remix of Enya's "Only Time" has threatened to make her actually cool, drawing comparisons to the infamous DNA remix of Suzanne Vega. The duo followed up this Billboard #1 single with another chart success, Celine Dion's title track from her multi-platinum album "A New Day."

In addition, one of S.A.F.'s singles, "Mon Amour D'arabique," was a huge hit on dance floors and charts in Europe, and even grabbed the attention of uber-DJ John Digweed as it landed in the top five on his KISS-FM show in London. With two number one hits under their belt, only time knows what's next for this exciting team. For more detail, check out their personal bios below.

Born in St.Louis, Christian Van Burkholder received his first lesson in music hanging around his father, a well-known professional DJ and the on-air voice for NBC television. Keith Burkholder regularly took his son to the studio to hang out with the staff and artists, giving the young kid his first introduction to the exciting world of music.

Christian has accomplished much in the field of music. He jumpstarted his career in radio by scoring his first on-air gig at the age of 16 in North Carolina, about the same time he convinced the local over 18 dance club to let him play his favorite tunes as a DJ. After that, all he could do was find the time to make music.

Having since branched into other areas, Christian's repertoire now includes music production, remixing, writing, and of course, DJ'ing. In fact, he has DJ'd all across the globe, opening for the Pet Shop Boys on their Nightlife tour and for Soft Cell on their latest U.S. tour. Christian is also currently hosting "Head Trip" on LA's, Indie 103.1 just voted "Coolest Station In America" by Rolling Stone magazine. This after hosting regular shows at KIIS FM with his number 1 rated Fullfrequency® dance program and two of the most progressive and popular dance stations in Los Angeles, Mars FM and Groove Radio.

With an affinity for the electronic and dance music featured at these two stations, Christian soon progressed from an on-air personality into a talented remixer. His first gig came in 1994 on Cause & Effect's "Another Minute." The song gave him his first taste of the Billboard charts having landed in the dance top 20. With this chart success, radio DJ'ing began to take a backseat to the new production and remixing duties.

In Christian's words, "I'm a musician first, and I respect the artist's music and lyrics. However, when I'm producing and remixing a hit record, I feel I'm doing my job when I enhance and add a new level to the original composition - kind of like an added member of the band." So far, the bands that Christian has worked with (along with S.A.F. partner Marc Dold), are as varied as those that have influenced him throughout his life. He counts his favorites to include Depeche Mode, OMD, The Cure, Morrisey, The Cult, Nitzer Ebb, Led Zepplin, The Doors, and recently Röyksopp, Kings Of Convienence and Weekend Players, to name a few.

Deep, dark and delicious. Christian's set on his 2002 release Dance America is a perfect example of what to expect should you be lucky enough to attend one of his live performances. Infusing his trademark eclectic sound with down tempo hard beats, dark progressive house, occasional breaks and lots of bass, this album is a uniquely constructed dance floor experience. Christian's liberal use of lyrics while DJ'ing has also surprised some in this post-trance world.

A melting pot of styles and genres, his mixes truly capture the dance experience. Refreshingly diverse, he continues to fly in the face of the purists who believe in the "one-sound-suits-all" theory of DJ'ing. In the end, Christian knows that if the music is good, people will dance. And dancing is all that matters.

Marc Dold's path as a musician led him from the ageless teachings of classical music principals to explorations of the cutting edge sound of alternative pop/rock and electronic musical expression. In the mixture of the old and the new is where he found his own unique sound.

Born the younger of two children, Marc's father was a classical orchestra conductor and arranger and his mother a violin player and music teacher. When Marc was two years old his father took a job with the Volksoper in Vienna, Austria. Surrounded by a classical music environment Marc soon started to play piano, violin and guitar.

Turning 15, Marc found himself back in Switzerland with his mother. After pleasing his family' with the sound of classical guitar for to long Marc could not hold back any longer: he went out and bought an electric guitar along with a seriously loud amp, put his own rock band together and started giging in local clubs. He was then asked to become the bandleader of a local performance group and toured Europe with them.

After his tour and completing his first degree in electronics, Marc graduated at the Conservatory of Winterthur (Switzerland) where he studied classical guitar, piano and arrangement. At the Conservatory, Marc's performances never failed to reflect his own influences, and varied from classical recitals to modern classical improvisations on electrical guitar.

During this period, he also started writing and producing music with singer/songwriter Judith Martin and they soon played gigs in numerous Swiss clubs together. Looking for new opportunities and creative stimulants they decided to move to Boston, MA to attend the Berklee College of Music where they won awards for their songwriting and producing. Soon, Marc and Judith longed for a more creative challenge and moved to Los Angeles, CA where they wrote and produced their first album.
(www.judithmartin.com)

Their original music has found its way into feature films
such as "Bandits", "Enemies of Laughter" and numerous network television shows including "Sex and the City", "Charmed", "Felicity" and "A Queer Eye For A Straight Guy" among many others. Together with Judith, Marc went on to write and produce over 180 tracks for the BMG library Killer Edge and other libraries.

It was in 1999 when Marc met DJ Christian B. at a Hollywood Music Store. Christian introduced Marc to a genre of music he had never paid much attention to before: Remixes, Dance and Electronic Music. S.A.F. (theSwiss American Federation) was formed between the two of them and since that first collaboration they have produced #1 hits for Celine Dion and Enya, remixed and produced artist such as Peter Gabriel, Sarah Brightman, Norah Jones, Alice Cooper, Basement Jaxx, Mandalay and many more (See S.A.F. Bio/Discography)

Meanwhile together with Judith Martin, Marc started Very Music, Inc., an artist owned, independent music label with national distribution. Their first CD release "Songs Of The Alchemist", a record inspired by Paolo Coehlo's best-selling novel "The Alchemist", was played on some 800 Radio shows across the country and toped at #9 at the NewAge's Reporter Charts. Their new release "Kismet", a project including a book as well as music, will be available soon.