The performance schedule for the featured artists is undergoing development and will be posted here when it is available.
Friday's ho‘olaule‘a will begin at 4:00 P.M. and will feature eight steel guitar masters in separate programs for your enjoyment. The emcee will be Kimo Kahoano. The ho‘olaule‘a will be livestreamed.
This year's featured steel guitarists include Alan Akaka, Pomai Brown, Ethan Goore, Bobby Ingano, Kapono Lopoes, Mālie Lyman, Dwight Tokumoto, and Geronimo "Geri" Valdriz.
Friday's kanikapila will follow the festival ho‘olaule‘a in the Ballroom and will be open to the public. Guests can bring an instrument and play along with festival musicians or just come and enjoy the music. If your instrument requires amplification bring along a battery-powered amplifier.
A "Learn to Play" workshop and an open talk story will be conducted on Saturday morning beginning at 9 A.M. in the North Lanai area.
Saturday Open stage sessions are scheduled to begin at 11:30 A.M. and will feature guest artists and performers. These 30-minute playing sessions will showcase steel guitarists and Hawaiian music groups from all over the world.
Each month during the full moon, music lovers bring blankets and folding chairs to the oceanfront lawn at the Eva Parker Woods Cottage. Musicians gather on the lanai (porch) to talk story and play their favorite tunes. The stage is humble but the talent is world-class. For over two decades, the Twilight at Kalāhuipua‘a concert series has served as a Who's Who of Hawaiian music.
The festival's Twilight at Kalāhuipua‘a program will be hosted by Kahu Hanai Danny Akaka, Jr. The program includes steel guitar talk story and performances by festival and NextGen steel guitar artists. Alan Akaka and Danny Akaka, Jr. will close the program.
NextGen (Next Generation) Steel Guitar students of Ke Kula Mele Hawai‘i School of Hawaiian Music will perform for festival attendees' enjoyment.
Guests of the Mauna Lani's Sunday brfeakfast at the HāLani Restaurant will enjoy music from a kanikapila-stype jam session by participating steel guitar masters and other musicians.
An exhibit featuring vintage and contemporary lap steel guitars will be presented at the North Lanai/Hale I‘ike. The instruments are from the instrument collections of Hawai‘i-based steel guitarists appearing at the festival. Come and see this wide assortment of steel guitars on Saturday.
Festival guests will be offered hands-on opportunities to experience the steel guitar under the guidance of a steel guitar expert.
For the convenience of festival guests, sales and information tables will be temporarily set up in the Ballroom during Friday night's ho‘olaule‘a concert.
The 2023 Hawai‘i Island Steel Guitar Experience poster was designed by Addison Ching and features pictures of the master performers superimposed on a silhouette of a Gibson EH-150 steel guitar. Click on the thumbnail for a larger view.
The Festival Archives contains program information from previous festivals.
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Statewide Festivals
Kaua‘i Steel Guitar Festival
Maui Steel Guitar Festival
Waikīkī Steel Guitar Week
Hawai‘i Island Steel Guitar Festival
Japan-Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival
Kona Steel Guitar Festival
Community Festivals
Ka Makana Ali‘i - Kapolei
Windward Mall - Kane‘ohe
Kahala Mall - Wai‘alae-Kāhala
Livestream Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase