Festival Lineups Announced

January 17, 2023 • Addison Ching • Festivals and Conventions

The featured steel guitarists at the first two HIMELE-produced steel guitar festivals in 2023 have been announced.

The Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival at Ka Makana Ali‘i, a community-based festival for West O‘ahu, will be presented on Saturday, February 18, 2023 at the Ka Makana Ali‘i shopping center in Kapolei. The festival will be held from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM and will feature performances by Alan Akaka, Steve Cheney, Bobby Ingano, Kapono Lopes, and Greg Sardinha and Po'okela (Zachary Castro and Kata Maduli.)

The Kapolei festival will also feature NextGen steel guitarists Reign Lyu, Enosa Lyman, Makamae Lyu-Napoleon, Isabella Bertelmann, and Joey Misailidis.

Backup musicians for the festival will be Joseph Zayac, Kaipo Asing and Helene Woodward, and Alan Akaka will host the event.

The performance will be livestreamed on the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase's Facebook Page and YouTube channel.

The performance schedule will be published when it is available.

The first annual Kona Steel Guitar Festival will be held at the Outrigger Kona Resort and Spa in Keauhou, Hawai‘i, on March 23-25, 2023 immediately preceding the 2023 Aloha Music Camp. The Camp, previously held on Kaua‘i, is relocating to Kona in 2023. The Kona steel guitar festival was created to continue the steel guitar experience previously offered with the pairing of the Kaua‘i Steel Guitar Festival and the Camp when it was held on Kaua‘i.

The Kona program will include most events offered in the outer island festivals, including Open Stage performance, workshops, vintage steel guitar exhibit, nightly public kanikapila, and a ho‘olaule‘a concert program. School visitations have been suspended due to the pandemic but will resume when it is deemed safe and appropriate.

The main ho‘olaule‘a concert program will feature Alan Akaka, Pomai Brown, Al Greene, Jr., Kapono Lopes, Patti Maxine, Greg Sardinha, Dwight Tokumoto, and Geronimo "Geri" Valdriz. NextGen steel guitarists Enosa Lyman, Tai Misailidis, Makamae Lyu-Napoleon, Isabella Bertelmann, Joey Misailidis, and Pono Fernandez will also perform.

Backup will be provided by Joseph Zayac, Kaipo Asing, and Helene Woodward. Emcee for Open Stage and Ho‘olaule‘a performances will be Kimo Kahoano.

Saturday's ho‘olaule‘a concert will be presented in two performance segments. The first segment will begin at 11:00 A.M. and run to 3:00 P.M. The second segment will begin at 5:00 P.M. and run to 8:00 P.M.

Both ho‘olaule‘a segments will be livestreamed on the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase Facebook page and YouTube channel. The performance may also be livestreamed on the Kona Steel Guitar Festival's Facebook page.

As with the Kapolei festival, the event schedule will be published when it is available. Support for these festivals comes in part by the Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA), through appropriations from the Legislature of the State of Hawai‘i or grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Support also comes from the Laurence H. Dorcy Hawaiian Foundation.