The 2017 Maui Steel Guitar Festival

February 26, 2017 • Addison Ching • Festivals and Conventions

The 2017 Maui Steel Guitar Festival will be on April 28-30, 2017 at the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel. This will be the 9^th year that the Arts Education for Children Group (AECG) is presenting the festival at the hotel and the fifth year that Alan Akaka has been in charge of the festival's production. The 2-day Hawaiian Steel Guitar Camp, a tuition-based intensive learning experience with the Hawaiian Steel Guitar, will precede the festival on April 26-27.

In addition to the musical presentations, this year's festival again incorporates visits to local area schools as a part of the festival's educational outreach. These school visitations are a very important part of the festival not commonly seen by the general public. Presentations are made by festival teams comprising some master players, students, and other musicians. These teams, upon invitation, travel to various Maui schools at all levels from elementary to high school and present an educational and musical program that introduces attendees to the Hawaiian Steel Guitar. At the end of the presentation, attendees are invited to ask questions and try out the steel guitar if they desire.

The festival's musical presentations include open stage performance sessions, evening Ho'olaule'a programs and public jam sessions on Friday and Saturday. The open stage sessions will feature steel guitarists from Hawaii, Washington, New Jersey, Illinois, Colorado, New Zealand, and Japan. Each evening program will feature different master steel guitarists from Japan, Hawaii, and California in individual performances and will be followed by a public jam session where festival guests can bring their own instruments and play along with festival performers.