A Beloved Community Event

October 27, 2022 • Addison Ching • Festivals and Conventions

The Mauna Lani Auberge Resorts Collection calls it "…a beloved community event consisting of interactive music workshops, vintage steel guitar exhibits, intimate live performances and more." The Mauna Lani mentions this in communication sent via their email distribution.

The Fourth Annual event, now called The Hawaiian Steel Guitar Experience at Mauna Lani, will be held on December 8-11, 2022 at the Mauna Lani Auberge Resorts Collection. This will be the first comprehensive steel guitar festival on Hawai‘i Island since the COVID-19 pandemic paused all in-person events.

The Experience will feature concerts, the hotel's monthly Twilight at Kalāhuipua‘a program, workshops, kanikapila jam sessions, and Open Stage performances. New to this year's festival are "pop-up" steel guitar performances similar to group kanikapila that will be held at various locations throughout the hotel grounds and at unannounced times.

The main program on Friday will feature O‘ahu steel guitarists Alan Akaka, Bobby Ingano, Greg Sardinha, Kaua‘i steel guitarist Ed Punua, Maui steel guitarist Geronimo "Geri" Valdriz, and Hawai‘i Island steel guitarists Pomai Brown, Elmer "Sonny" Lim and Dwight Tokumoto. Backup musicians include Helene Woodward, Kaipo Asing and Joseph Zayac.

Also included in the program will be NextGen steel guitarists Enosa Lyman, Pono Fernandez, and Joey and Tai Misailidis.

Saturday's program will be the hotel's monthly Twilight at Kalāhuipua‘a event featuring festival steel guitarists.

Sunday steel guitar entertainment kanikapila-style will also be provided to the hotel's patrons.

Festival host will be celebrity Kimo Kahoano. The event will be livestreamed contingent on a reliable connection to the Internet.

Open stage performance signups are now in progress. If you are a Hawaiian steel guitarist or have a Hawaiian music band with a steel guitar, you are encouraged to sign up for a performance slot. See the website for additional information and to sign up.

This and all other HIMELE-produced festivals receive funding provided by Hawai‘i Tourism Authority through the Kūkulu Ola Program, administered by the Hawai‘i Community Foundation. This program is also supported in part by the Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA), through appropriations from the Legislature of the State of Hawai‘i or grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).