Andreas Transø, Folk Musician and Storyteller

2008 Semi-Finalist in The Prairie Home Companion "People in their 20s Talent Show"

Hello! I am Andreas Transø, a storyteller, writer and musician based out of the Frog & Toad Land Trust in the Ocooch Mountains of the Driftless Region in Southwestern Wisconsin. Performing mostly traditional and contemporary Irish and original folk music, I do my best to travel around learning and sharing knowledge and spreading the message of peace and community. I often travel as THE HANDFUL OF EARTH, a project that strives to support and encourage the traditional and folk music scenes in the areas I travel to by my being involved in the local jams and sessions and by hiring local musicians to back me during my gigs. I have toured and performed with a number of fantastic musicians...and am always looking to do more!

When not on the road, I work as a reporter and copy editor for The Crawford County Independent & Kickapoo Scout newspaper in Gays Mills, Wisconsin, on the banks of the lovely Kickapoo River. 

My travels as a student have taken me to study Irish music, history and culture at the University of Limerick’s Irish World Music Centre, the Oideas Gael Gaelic Language School in Donegal and at St. Mary’s College in London, England. I have also studied world cultures, theatre, anthropology and history at the University of Wisconsin at Platteville and Milwaukee.

I am also a bodhrán player with the International Peace Ambassador group The Call For Peace Drum and Dance Company, and work with The Great Midwestern Educational Theater Company, of Shullsburg, Wisconsin, the group that hosts the acclaimed Frogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

I have also worked for BINGBANGBONG, the ingenius instrument design and building workshop founded and run by Paul Marshall near Belfast in Northern Ireland. My work with Paul has included building instruments for the internationally-acclaimed theatrical percussion ensemble STOMP!