Aloha Mai Kakou!

The Waikīkī Steel Guitar Week, incorporating the Waikīkī Steel Guitar Festival, was a week-long event celebrating Hawaiian music and the Hawaiian steel guitar. The 2023 annual event was held at the Royal Hawaiian Center's Royal Grove stage during the week of July 10-15, 2023.

Monday through Thursday evening concerts featured one-hour performances by different Hawaiian steel guitar artists and ensembles. Alan Akaka and The Islanders, Mālie Lyman, Greg Sardinha and Po‘okela, and NextGen steel guitarists performed this year.

The 2^nd Annual Japan-Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival was presented on Friday, July 14, 2023, from 4 PM to 6:30 PM and featured steel guitarists Noriko and Shuji Tomita, Paul Okubo, Shinichi Kakiuchi, Matt Kobayashi and Kiyoshi "Lion" Kobayashi, all from Japan, participated this year.

The festival's Saturday ho‘olaule‘a performances featured various Hawaiian steel guitar artists and bands in two performance segments. The first segment was presented at 11:00 AM - 2:20 PM and the second segment began at 4:00 PM and ran through 6:30 PM. The split program was designed to provide festival guests a break between the festival program and avoid what might be the hottest part of the afternoon.

Emcee for the Monday-Thursday concerts was Monte McComber. The Japan-Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival's emcee was Reiko Tokushige Rogers, and Saturday's Waikīkī Steel Guitar Festival was hosted by Kimo Kahoano.

The event was presented free to the public by the Royal Hawaiian Center and was produced by the Hawaii Institute for Music Enrichment and Learning Experiences (HIMELE™).

The festival's Friday and Saturday programs were livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube. Access to the livestreams was via the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase Facebook Page or the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase YouTube Channel where the livestreams are archived for demand viewing.