Showcase Livestream Steel Guitar Saturday Broadcasts Suspended

April 11, 2023 • Addison Ching • Festivals and Conventions

Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase Livestream Steel Guitar Saturday and the related Livestream Open Stage Showcase and Livestream Kanikapila broadcasts have been suspended until further notice.

This suspension applies only to the non-festival stand-alone broadcasts that feature live and prerecorded Hawaiian steel guitar entertainment. These include three previously-scheduled Livestream Steel Guitar Saturday broadcasts for the remainder of 2023.

Showcase Livestream broadcasts of the concert portions of in-person steel guitar festivals will continue as previously scheduled. These include the Kaua‘i Steel Guitar Festival and the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival at Ka Makana Ali‘i in May, the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival at Windward Mall in June, the Japan-Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival and the Waikīkī Steel Guitar Festival during Waikīkī Steel Guitar Week in July, the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival Keiki Kine at Kahala Mall in August, the Maui Steel Guitar Festival in October, and the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Experience at Mauna Lani at a date to be announced.

Livestream Steel Guitar Saturdays, the Livestream Open Stage Showcase, and Livestream Kanikapila broadcasts were created during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way of perpetuating the steel guitar and presenting steel guitar entertainment to the public during a time when in-person steel guitar festivals were paused.

Now that all in-person festivals have resumed Statewide, HIMELE has decided to limit the livestream events to the concert portions of these in-person festivals. Non-festival livestreams may be resumed at a later date as deemed appropriate.