By ANDREW SPIESS
BG Independent News
This year’s Black Swamp Arts Festival has booked musical acts from around the country, including Texas, Colorado, Indiana, and Georgia, but make sure to support local acts as well, which will be performing all over the weekend.
Playing two sets at the festival is Sankofa Sounds, performing on Saturday on the Main Stage at noon and on the Family Stage at 2 p.m. (Listings for Family, Community, and after-hours stages below.)
Sankofa Sounds, an Afro-funk fusion band, arose from a musical ensemble formed and still performing at BGSU. The ensemble, co-directed by guitarist Nick Kiekenapp and his wife, Sidra Lawrence, is comprised of students. The version of the band we’ll see at the festival was conceived after being invited to perform at events over previous summers and having a difficult time pinning down members to play.
“The group plays a lot of different African and African diasporic music, but not just drumming, but different popular music styles,” Kiekenapp said about their music. “So in that group, there’s a lot of turnover because each semester’s enrollment changes.”
Kiekenapp’s wife, a professor of ethnomusicology at BGSU, convinced him to solidify a version of the ensemble with willing, able, and committed performers on a regular basis.
“This is the public-facing version of it. It’s all family, friends and faculty version of it because some of our members are faculty members in the jazz studies department, also in other non-music-related places.”
This version of the band is made of eight to ten members, still with a slightly flexuous bend, but much more constant. Kiekenapp is always performing along with Tiyinoluwa Olushola-Alao on keyboards, a regular bassist, two horn players, and however many drummers are able to make it to the event. Sankofa Sounds even performed as Sam Shaba’s backing band last year on the main stage, and now you can see both separately on the same stage this year.
Sankofa Sounds not only plays music influenced by the African diaspora, but Olushola-Alao’s experience growing up in Nigeria and absorbing its rich musical culture shapes the group’s Afro-funk style.
“I’m surrounded by people who show a deep care and a deep appreciation for the kinds of music that they’ve listened to and they grew up with, and I grew up with,” said Olushola-Alao. “And in some way, somehow everyone’s individual influences still pour into the music that we make because we’re an Afro-fusion, Afro-funk group. There is something inherent to the soul of that kind of music that is communal. And so it requires everyone to sort of dip their hands into the pot a little bit and bring the best of themselves.”
Leadfoot Granny reps Toledo
Based in Toledo, Leadfoot Granny will play their second year at BSAF on the Main Stage at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Comprised of guitarist Luke, drummer Odin, bassist Owen, and vocalist Hope, the members of the band began jamming with each other shortly after high school in Odin’s grandparents’ chicken coop in the freezing winter temperatures of 2023. As soon as they locked down their current lineup, the chemistry was immediate.
“No matter what we’re playing, we’re always trying to play it with the utmost amount of energy and that definitely affects the sound,” said Luke. “But for us, genre-wise, we’re influenced by basically everything. Every form of music. Rock classic rock. We had a little bit of jazz in there, a little bit of psychedelia. So just a whole mix of everything. Yeah. We try to throw it all together. We just try to play anything that excites us.”
High energy is the key element in Leadfoot Granny’s live performances. Wherever the band’s influence comes from, they pull the pieces together seamlessly in a way that flows into a solid sonic style. Admittedly, the band plays whatever excites them, leading to groovy, danceable, guitar-driven rhythms that ensure an enjoyable show. The band is more than excited to play at Black Swamp Arts Festival this year and speaks highly of the festival’s accommodations.
“We’re really looking forward to it,” said Odin. “Last year, they had really great hospitality. It was probably one of the nicest times we’ve ever been treated as a band, especially at a festival.”
Leadfoot Granny recently spent some time at Rust Belt Studios in Royal Oak, Michigan, working on a new full-length album, and they’re planning a tour down south with dates set in Nashville, Chattanooga, Lexington, Louisville and Cincinnati. The final show of the tour will be at Golden Road in Toledo. Their self-titled album, released in 2025, is available on all streaming services as well as a physical release available for purchase on CD.
***
Here’s the lineup for the Community Stage, Family Stage and the after-hours shows at Howard’s Club H
FRIDAY
Community Stage
- Corduroy Road, 5 p.m.
Howard’s Club H
- Debutants, 11:30 p.m.
SATURDAY
Community Stage
- Jumping Fleas Ukulele Band, noon
- Crickett and Ruben, 1:15 p.m.
- Three Body Problem, 2:30 p.m.
- Scap Gold, 3:45 p.m.
- Freight Street (EP Release), 5 p.m.
Family Stage
- Beats on the Street 10:30 a.m.
- After School Expressions (Bass Line Music Studio) 12:30 p.m.
- Sankofa Sounds 2 p.m.
- The Battle, 3:30 p.m.
- The Go Rounds 5 p.m.
Howard’s Club H
- Miller and the Other Sinners, 11:30 p.m.
SUNDAY
Community Stage
- Toraigh, noon
- The Jolly Gabbers, 1:15 p.m.
- GRUBS, 2:30 p.m.
- Timmy C, 3:45 pm:
Family Stage
- Miller and the Other Sinners, 11:30 a.m.
- Ray Arthur and Company, 1 p.m.
- Third Coast Swing, 2:30 p.m.
- BGHS Jazz Band Ensemble, 3:45 p.m
