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Topic: Waikiki Steel Guitar Festival Report |
Peter Garellick
From:
California, USA
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Posted 16 Jul 2017 11:14 am |
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The week-long Waikiki Steel Guitar Week just concluded, and anyone lucky enough to be in Oahu (like me!) was in steel guitar heaven.
There were 6 consecutive nights of free concerts at The Royal Hawaiian Center. Here was the lineup:
Monday Ke Kula Mele Next Generation Steel Guitarists and Ensemble
Tuesday Greg Sardinha and Po'okela
Wednesday Casey Olsen Trio
Thursday Alan Akaka and The Islanders
Friday
5:30 PM Alexis Tolentino
6:15 PM Steve Cheney
7:00 PM Wayne Shishido
7:45 PM Geronimo Valdriz
8:30 PM Bobby Ingano
Saturday
5:30 PM Alan Akaka and The Islanders
6:15 PM Paul Kim
7:00 PM Eddie Palama
7:45 PM Bobby Ingano
8:30 PM Greg Sardinha and Po'okela
I saw almost every performance, except for a few times I escaped to nearby Waikiki beach nearby and jumped in the ocean! Part of what made it such a wonderful experience was having the opportunity to meet and talk story with most of the artists, who are truly an amazing and friendly group of people.
Some moments that were truly memorable...Bobby Ingano's blazing 1920s medley of Ain't She Sweet, Sweet Georgia Brown, Palolo, and a few other songs, backed by the awesome father-son rhythm section Kaipo and Adam Asing...watching Alan Akaka's 12 and 13 year old students playing steel and singing with such confidence and style...Paul Kim and his group reviving the Sons of Hawaii style - palaka shirts and all!.....Alan Akaka getting the whole enthusiastic audience to sing along in Hasegawa General Store...kupuna Eddie Palama still going strong....the liquid butter smoothness of Greg Sardinha and Casey Olsen....and for territorialairwaves.com fans, Harry B. Soria Jr. emceed every night and shared his stories of Hawaiian music and musicians. Special props to Alan Akaka and Addison Ching who put the whole thing together.
If you ever get a chance to come to something like this, go! Mahalo nui loa to all the amazing artists.
Peter Garellick |
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Bill Leff
From:
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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Posted 16 Jul 2017 7:40 pm
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| Sounds like a great line-up. All are great players! |
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 17 Jul 2017 5:54 am
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Would like to have made it there for that ! Like mentioned, all great players, and the youngsters under Kumu Alan are really progressing in their playing !  |
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Wally Pfeifer
From:
Illinois, USA
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Posted 17 Jul 2017 7:44 am waikiki fest
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Hey, Peter.
It sounds like you may have died and went to Heaven. If I had been there,- I would have felt the same way.
Sounds like you met every important person in Hawaii except maybe a couple others.
Mahalo to Alan & Addison. |
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Peter Garellick
From:
California, USA
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Posted 17 Jul 2017 11:13 pm
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Yes, it was really something! The kind of thing where 25 years from now you can say "I can't beleive I saw x and y and z all on the same day."
For fans of Hawaiian music, we just lost 2 legends in the last 3 days. Mahi Beamer passed away at the age of 88 and Roland Cazimero passed away last night at age 66. They were both tremendously influential singers and musicians. They didn't play steel as far as I know but their recordings featured many of the island's best from the 1950's-to 2000s. Search out their music and you will understand why this is a very sad day for Hawaii.
Peter G |
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