Bio & Press
Among the most interesting artists on the Danish folk music scene are Andreas Tophøj and Rune Barslund. Through almost two decades of collaboration, they have developed their own musical and humorous narrative style, which is rooted in Danish, Scandinavian, and Irish traditions, but which also allows new winds to blow through a genre with a long history. Their performances are engaging and humorous. They are based on good melodies and their instrumental skills, while leaving room for the moment to shape the performance. And Andreas and Rune never stop refining their musical craft.
The duo's collaboration has taken them far and wide, to concerts and festivals at home and abroad. Various collaborations with other musicians have been very important to Andreas and Rune, and their artistic efforts have been rewarded with several awards. Among the important milestones are collaborations with Mike McGoldrick, Dezi Donelly (UK), and Jim Murray (IRL), which in 2025 resulted in the album "Ties that Bind." That same year, Rune was nominated for a Danish Music Award in the Track of the Year category, a category that Andreas and Rune won together in 2012 for the song "The Danish Immigrant." In 2015, Andreas was nominated for Artist of the Year.
Andreas and Rune both graduated from the folk music program at the Funen Music Conservatory, but it was actually very different paths that brought them together. Andreas' early childhood was marked by classical music, including organ and choral music, and it was also on the classical scene that he picked up the violin at the age of seven. Tired of the violin at the age of 16, and with an eye for the opposite sex, he actually wanted to play the guitar instead. But soon he became aware of folk music, fell in love with it, picked up the violin again, and became an apprentice to Harald Haugaard. Initially, it was largely the social aspect – the festivities and close friendships – that drew him into this complex and diverse world, but the music has kept him there ever since. He met Rune at an early age, and the two established their long-standing partnership. Rune himself was shaped, indeed almost grew out of, the Scandinavian musical tradition, and in his childhood home, traditional folk music was played and Giro 413 was listened to. At the age of six, he began playing the accordion, and it became a whirlwind romance when he later discovered Irish folk music in his childhood. At the same time, it marked the beginning of a lifelong quest to master the Celtic musical language. As a young man, he traveled to Limerick in Ireland to study with Derek Hickey, who played accordion in the legendary folk group De Dannan. If one can draw an analogy between music and language – namely, that each region has its own dialect – for Rune it has been a matter of getting "the right accent." For Andreas, however, it was even more distant shores that attracted him, and he went to the United States to study American folk music and bluegrass at Berklee College of Music.
Their travels, impressions from different traditions, and diverse experiences as a duo or in larger constellations have shaped the style and expression that Andreas and Rune represent today. In addition to traditional folk melodies, their songs are largely self-composed. In their music, a good melody is the absolute key element, but any melody can of course be arranged and played with stylistic embellishments, as the mood allows. The performance thus takes place with variation and in an open musical dialogue, which rests on the shoulders of traditional music, professional craftsmanship, and Andreas and Rune's great musical abilities.
Finally, music has many inherent layers of meaning for the duo. Music can convey pure emotions, but it can also tell stories in a more concrete sense. That is why it is only natural that Andreas and Rune have evolved into more than just musicians: they are also entertainers and storytellers who enjoy entertaining their audience with more or less true stories.
