HIMELE Launches Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase

July 22, 2020 • Addison Ching • Festivals and Conventions

HIMELE is launching the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase, a series of Hawaiian steel guitar performances livestreamed online. The initial group of performances will feature 2-hour livestream programs beginning on Saturday, July 25 and will be presented on the Showcase's Facebook page.

The Showcase was developed as a way of promoting steel guitar awareness and offering Hawaiian steel guitar entertainment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Large assembly restrictions and suspension of music entertainment events have prevented annual Hawaiian steel guitar festivals from being offered since March.

The initial Livestream Steel Guitar Saturdays series will comprise showcases offered on the last Saturday of July, August, and September. Livestreaming will be from 3 PM to 5 PM Hawaiian Standard Time (HST).

July 25, 2020 Showcase featuring Greg Sardinha, NextGen and Alan Akaka

The July showcase will feature Greg Sardinha and Alan Akaka. The August showcase will feature Jeff Au Hoy and Bobby Ingano. The September showcase will feature Steve Cheney and Kapono Lopes. NextGen performances will be included in all three programs.

Livestreams can be accessed via the Showcase Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/HawaiianSteelShowcase/. Viewers will be offered an opportunity to support the Showcase and HIMELE through Venmo and PayPal.me virtual tip jars.

Since the onset of the pandemic HIMELE has been able to present only two Hawaiian steel guitar festivals – the rescheduled Hawai‘i Island Steel Guitar Festival in the middle of February and the Kaua‘i Steel Guitar Festival at the end of February. Six other festivals statewide have been canceled since then because of the pandemic.

Canceled events include festivals at Kamakana Ali‘i, Windward Mall, and the Kahala Mall Keiki Kine festival. Also canceled were the previously-rescheduled Maui Steel Guitar Festival, Waikīkī Steel Guitar Week, and the inaugural presentation of the Japan-Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival.

Live festivals will resume as soon as protocols and conditions allow. Showcase performances are designed to bridge the gap in the interim and continue the preservation of the Hawaiian steel guitar.