Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase A Huge Success!

July 28, 2020 • Addison Ching • Festivals and Conventions

The first Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase Live Stream event was a resounding success! Branded as "Livestream Steel Guitar Saturday" the presentation was the first in what is envisioned to be a series of regular live streamcasts that will be presented monthly for the duration of the pandemic while live Steel Guitar festivals are suspended.

NextGen Ethan Goore Interviews Greg Sardinha via Zoom

The 2-hour presentation featured live performances by Greg Sardinha and Alan Akaka, backed by Adam Asing and Kaipo Asing. Each of these performances was preceded by a prerecorded Zoom interview between the artist and one of the Ke Kula Mele NextGen steel guitarists. Prerecorded NextGen steel guitar performances were also included in the program.

The livestream presentation was at an outdoor setting at the Sma‘Kine Recording Studio in Kailua, Hawai‘i. A few showers blessed the event in spite of the threat of Hurricane Douglas to the area.

The streamcast was monitored and interacted with by HIMELE staff onsite, on Hawai‘i Island, and in California. At its peak the broadcast was watched by 99 viewers. Altogether, the event reached over 13,000 people and collected over 350 comments during the broadcast. Viewers originated from Hawai‘i, the mainland U.S. states of Maryland, Washington, California, Tennessee, Florida, Illinois, Ohio and Alaska, and from Washington D.C., Australia and Japan.

Alan Akaka and The Islanders Performing Live

For anyone who missed the presentation or would like to see it again, it is archived on the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase Facebook page.

Additional livestreamed showcases are scheduled for the last Saturday in August and September. The August 29 Livestream Steel Guitar Saturday presentation will feature steel guitarists Jeff Au Hoy and Bobby Ingano, and the September 26 presentation will feature steel guitarists Steve Cheney and Kapono Lopes. NextGen steel guitarists will also be featured in both events, along with new interviews of the featured players.

All livestream presentations are launched from the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase Facebook page. Archived video links and photos of past livestream events are posted on the showcase website gallery.