A Steel Guitar Cornucopia in Waikīkī

May 25, 2025 • Addison Ching • Festivals and Conventions

This year's Waikīkī Steel Guitar Week promises to be a Cornucopia of Steel Guitar in Waikīkī, the biggest in the event's history, with the most public steel guitar performances ever offered within a single week.

The 2025 Waikīkī Steel Guitar Week kicks off on Sunday, July 6 with the inaugural Steel Guitar Sundays performance at the Hula Grill Waikiki. Hula Grill Waikiki has chosen this year's Week to launch its monthly series of two-hour concerts that will be offered on the first Sunday of each month through the end of the year. The first performance, beginning at 10:00 AM, will feature Alan Akaka.

"The steel guitar is an integral part of Hawaii's rich music history and we can't wait to share the beauty of its sound with all of our guests," said Hula Grill Waikiki General Manager Michelle Whitton. "This new initiative will enhance the dining experience for our customers, while providing a unique platform to elevate local artists."

The Week's Monday through Thursday evening one-hour concerts will feature various steel guitarists and groups. These concerts, emceed by Royal Hawaiian Center's Cultural Director Monte McComber, will feature Alan Akaka & The Islanders on Monday, The Mālie Lyman Quartet (Devin Nakahara, Dylan Nakahara and Kamana‘o Sarsona) on Tuesday, Japanese group Makana (Masami Sato, Kazuko Tanaka, Kazuko Ishii, Ayumi Kato, Yoshiko Konno, Michiko Makiuchi, and Masako Wakamatsu) on Wednesday, and Ke Kula Mele NextGen steel guitarists Isaac, Hi‘ipoi, Enosa, Ever, Tai, and Isabella on Thursday. These weekday performances begin at 5:30 PM.

The Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association (HSGA) has planned its Waikiki Festival '25 to coincide with the 2025 Waikīkī Steel Guitar Week and will offer HSGA member performances on Wednesday from 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM at the Royal Grove Stage and again on Thursday from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM at the Outrigger Reef Waikiki Beach Resort's Diamond Head Ballroom. All HSGA Waikiki Festival '25 performances are free and open to the public.

The 2025 Japan-Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival will be presented on Friday beginning at 2:30 PM and continuing through 6:30 PM. Japanese artists include Shinichi Kakiuchi, Yukio Katagiri, Kiyoshi "Lion" Kobayashi and his Steel Guitar Ensemble (Hajime Takahashi, Haruko Ozeki, Masako Wakamatsu, Sakae Machida, and Michiyo Fujita), Masami "Matt" Kobayashi (with Leonard Jenkins, Hovey Lambert, Poki‘i Vaughan, Ernie Morikubo, Caroline Affonso, and Kela Cuban), Paul Okubo, Masami Sato and Makana, and Moto Suzuki. Emcees for the festival will be Masami Sato and Alan Akaka. The festival will be livestreamed.

The 2025 Waikiki Steel Guitar Festival will be presented on Saturday in two sessions. The first session will run from 11:00 AM through 2:25 PM and feature Steve Cheney, Geronimo "Geri" Valdriz, Greg Sardinha and Po‘okela (Darrell Aquino and Kata Maduli), Johnny Crash (Fabio Martins) from Brazil, Christo Ruppenthal (HSGA President), and Kiyoshi "Lion" Kobayashi and his Steel Guitar Ensemble.

The second session will begin at 4:00 PM and feature Masami Sato and Makana, Bobby Ingano, Mālie Lyman, and Alan Akaka.

Emcee for this festival will be Kimo Kahoano, and both sessions will be livestreamed.

Most performances will be at the Royal Hawaiian Center's Royal Grove outdoor stage with the Sunday kickoff at the Hula Grill Waikiki and HSGA Thursday performances at the Outrigger Reef Waikiki Beach Resort's Diamond Head Ballroom. All performances are free and open to the public.

For complete event information including performer biographies and complete event program, please see the Waikīkī Steel Guitar Week website.