2017 Festival Information

The 2017 Festival will be held at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows on November 10-12, 2017. Daytime Open Stage performances and evening Ho'olaule'a programs are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, with public kanikapila jam sessions following each evening's main program. Cultural workshops will be offered Saturday morning musical entertainment offered during the Sunday brunch. The lineup of featured performers will be posted here and on the festival's Facebook page as soon as it is finalized.

Education is a key component of the steel guitar festivals. School visitations by master steel guitarists and youth steel guitar players will be scheduled with local area schools. These visitations will include an introduction to the Hawaiian steel guitar and its importance in Hawaiian music and culture. A musical demonstration will be given by the visitation team. Local area schools will be contacted about scheduling a visitation time on Thursday and/or Friday, and information about any workshop offered at the festival will be posted when it becomes available.

If you or your Hawaii area public or private school has not yet been contacted and would like a visitation and presentation on Friday, November 10, 2017, please see the Contact Page and fill out the form indicating your request.

Public "kanikapila" jam sessions will be held on Friday and Saturday nights. Jam sessions are open to anyone and may include steel guitar masters and other musicians. Anyone is invited to participate and play along with the featured players and festival guest musicians. Musicians are advised to bring their own instruments, amplifiers and music stands if required. The location of the kanikapila will be in the hotel's bar area.

Open Stage sessions will be presented on Friday and Saturday afternoon. These sessions will feature steel guitar players from the United States and worldwide in half-hour playing sessions. If you are a Hawaiian Steel Guitar player or a band with a Hawaiian Steel Guitar and would like to reserve an open stage session, please submit your request by filling out the form on the >Contact Page. Due to the nature of the festival, your performance should be on the Hawaiian steel guitar but incidental use of other Hawaiian instruments is permissible.

Festival T-shirts, artists' CDs and the festival poster will be available for purchase at the festival information booth. Festival posters autographed by all of the featured steel guitarists will be given free to any donation of $25 or more to HIMELE, the festival's producer.