Festival News

May 29, 2024 • Addison Ching • Festivals and Conventions

Here is the latest news about HIMELE's steel guitar festivals and events.

Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival at Windward Mall

The 2024 Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival at Windward Mall will be held on Saturday, June 8, 2024 at Kane‘ohe's Windward Mall and begin at 11:00 A.M. This year's festival includes six steel guitar masters and six NextGen steel guitarists. Steel guitarists Alan Akaka, Pono Fernandez, Bobby Ingano, Paul Kim, Mālie Lyman, and Greg Sardinha and Po‘okela will headline the show. NextGen steel guitarists Isaac Woodward, Hi‘ipoi Lindsey, Enosa Lyman, Tai Misailidis, Makamae Lyu-Napoleon, and Isabella Bertelmann will also perform.

Japan-Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival

This year's Japan-Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival on July 12 will feature eight steel guitarists and/or steel guitar groups from Japan. Artists include Shinichi Kakiuchi, Yukio Katagiri, Kiyoshi "Lion" Kobayashi, Masami "Matt" Kobayashi, Paul Okubo, Masami Sato & Makana, Moto Suzuki and Miki Reina, and Noriko & Shuji Tomita.

The Japan-Hawaiian steel guitar festival will be held on Friday, July 12, 2024 as a part of the annual Waikīkī Steel Guitar Week. Due to the large number of participants this year, the festival time has been extended and will now begin at 2:30 P.M. HST (July 13 at 9:30 A.M. Japan time.)

Emcees for the festival will be Masami Sato and Shuji Tomita. Kapuanani will dance hula at the festival.

Complete festival information is available at the festival website.

The event will be livestreamed.

Waikīkī Steel Guitar Week

Details have been finalized for the 2024 Waikīkī Steel Guitar Week. The annual event will be held on July 8-13, 2024, at the Royal Hawaiian Center's Royal Grove Stage in Waikīkī.

This year's program will include Monday-Thursday evening 1-hour concerts beginning at 5:30 P.M. HST. Monday's program will showcase Alan Akaka & The Islanders. Tuesday's concert will feature the mother-daughter duo of Pōmaika‘i (Keawe) and Mālie (Lyman.) Japan's Masami Sato & Makana will perform on Wednesday, and NextGen steel guitarists Isaac Woodward, Enosa Lyman, Tai Misailidis, Makamae Lyu-Napoleon, and Isabella Bertelmann from Ke Kula Mele Hawai‘i School of Hawaiian Music will perform on Thursday. The emcee for the Monday-Thursday programs will be Monte McComber.

The 3^rd annual Japan-Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival will be held on Friday, July 12, 2024 and feature eight steel guitarists and/or steel guitar groups from Japan. The festival program will begin at 2:30 P.M. HST and run through 6:30 P.M. The performances will be livestreamed.

The 14^th annual Waikīkī Steel Guitar Festival will be held on Saturday, July 13, 2024. As with previous years, the program will be presented in two segments with an intermission between segments.

The first segment will begin at 11:00 A.M. HST and will feature Masami Sato & Makana, Steve Cheney, Geronimo "Geri" Valdriz, Devin Nakahara, and Greg Sardinha & Po‘okela.

The second segment will begin at 4:00 P.M. HST and will feature Mālie Lyman, Bobby Ingano, Kiyoshi "Lion" Kobayashi, and Alan Akaka.

Emcees for the festival will be Monte McComber and Kimo Kahoano. The festival will be livestreamed.