Hawaii — Steel Guitar Festival 2021

November 10, 2021 • Burt Johnson • Festivals and Conventions

Ed. Note: Burt Johnson was one of three photographers from the Eyes of Hawaii Photography Club who documented the 2021 Waikīkī Steel Guitar Festival. He is also the author of an online blog, "MindStorm Photo — Burt Johnson and Evelyn Johnson | Travel Photography". He made this post on November 8, 2021, and it appears here with his permission. All content and photography by Burt Johnson © 2010 - 2020, all rights reserved.

This past Saturday was the 11^th annual Steel Guitar Festival. Normally this is a week long event. It was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID restrictions, and this year was constrained to a single day's event instead of the normal week. There were four professional steel guitar players in the morning, and four young players in the afternoon. Above, you can listen to Mālie Lyman (age 17), one of the young players singing Sophisticated Hula. The camera club that I joined, Eyes of Hawaii, was invited to document the festival.

The first steel guitarist was Steve Cheney, seen above. Kaipo Asing on acoustic guitar, and Helene Woodward on upright bass remained on stage the entire day, providing accompaniment.

Next up was Kapono Lopes, playing the steel guitar seen top-left.

The third professional player was Jeff Au Hoy. His steel guitar was a dual arrangement, as seen in the rightmost image.

Greg Sardinha completed the morning session.

After a mid-day break for lunch, the festival continued. This time, there were a series of four young players, as seen above. with Enosa Lyman (12 - lower left), Tal Misailidis (13, upper left and lower middle), Pono Fernandez (15, top-middle), and Milie Lyman (17, right column).

Between steel guitar songs, we were presented with a hula dance by Kapuanani Greene.

The entire presentation was performed outdoors in the courtyard of the Royal Hawaiian Center. The audience wandered in and out during the day, with several tripods holding movie cameras that captured the entire day's performances.

During the break, I walked out to the street and had my first shaved ice with ice cream. This shop is generally considered the best shaved ice in Waikiki, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually pretty good.