The Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association has a long tradition of holding an annual music festival for members and non-members. The purpose of the festival is to:
• Promote the playing of the Hawaiian steel guitar
• Share our musical skills and talents with each other
• Encourage continued learning of the instrument
• Attract new members.
This year, we also used the opportunity to honor the victims of the recent wildfire that devastated much of Lahaina. We had a special display table dedicated to Maui and Lahaina and included a donation jar to help with relief efforts. I also donated some of my record and CD collection to the cause.
Proceeds from the sale of the recordings were divided between Lahaina relief and HSGA. The combined donations and proceeds from the sale totaled $778. (see Maui/Lahaina Disaster Relief article for more details)
The annual festival is an opportunity to gather with old friends and to make new friends from points near and far.Hopefully, some of us can even learn a few new licks, songs, or tunings along the way
Traditionally, the festival features a well-known Hawaiian steel guitarist as the key guest performer. This year, we enjoyed meeting and listening to a new, up and coming vocalist and steel guitar artist from Hawaii, Ms. Mālie Lyman. Mālie is the daughter of singer Pomaika’i Keawe and the great-granddaughter of the legendary Auntie Genoa Keawe. Mālie, now 19 years old, started learning Hawaiian steel guitar from Kumu Alan Akaka over ten years ago. Mālieis now in college and is pursuing a career in music.
“We Enjoyed Meeting And Listening To A New, Up And Coming Vocalist And Steel Guitar Artist From Hawaii, Ms. Mālie Lyman. Mālie Is The Daughter Of Singer Pōmaika’ I Keawe And The Great-Grand Daughter Of The Legendary Auntie Genoa Keawe.”
MĀLIE PROVIDED US WITH
THREE EXCELLENT SETS
on each of the three festival days, including the Luau Dinner Show with backing musician/vocalists that included: Alan, Bill Wynne (guitar), Mark Prucha (steel guitar), Mark Kahalekulu and Mikiya Matsuda (bass).
Annual HSGA festivals began in the mid-1980’s and were held in Joliet, Illinois for around twenty-five years. Festival location was largely driven by members who were able and willing to do the required organizing and logistical work for an annual event. In 2014, the location moved to Ft. Collins, Colorado, thanks to a core group of HSGA Board members who lived in that area. Ft. Collins served as our home base until 2019, when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down public gatherings for two years. In August of 2022, HSGA resumed the Festival at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Foster City, California.
The Odd Fellows Hall in Cupertino, California was selected for the 2023 Festival. This venue was suggested by several new HSGA members for a number of reasons. There is a fairly large Hawaiian population living in the San Jose/Cupertino area and the Odd Fellows Hall already hosts community events, including a monthly Kani Ka Pila jam session, hula and ukulele classes, and occasional Hawaiian music concerts. (Long time HSGA member Alan Akaka had also scheduled a Hawaiian steel guitar symposium at the Hall on Sunday, September 24, immediately following the festival.) The Cupertino Hotel is also within walking distance of the Hall.
All of these factors brought us to the decision to try this venue in 2023. One of our strategies was to increase public attendance and participation in our festival by leveraging participants of other Hawaiian cultural events. We saw many new faces in the Saturday audience, indicating that our strategy and advertising worked fairly well.
The festival began on Thursday, Sep 21 at 12:30, starting with the Annual Member meeting. President Christo Ruppenthal reported on the activities and accomplishments of the Board and the Association during the 2022-2023 Year.
The Annual Meeting also featured a video presentation by Director Eric Rindal on artwork developed in support of Association re-branding and marketing efforts. It is our hope that the fresh new look will appeal to the membership and help in attracting a new audience and ultimately new members for HSGA.
Member performances began around 1:30 p.m. on Thursday. First up was Mike Bonnice from Scottsdale, Arizona, and Mike played some nice selections on his Canopus steel guitar using backing tracks. It is never easy being the first performer, as there are sound and lighting adjustments still in process.
Great job, Mike!
I WAS UP IN THE SECOND SPOT AND ALSO USED MY OWN BACKING TRACKS. FOR SOME STRANGE REASON, MY PICKING FINGERS HAD DECIDED TO TAKE THE DAY OFF,
but I managed to stumble through a few songs. I also forgot to turn on the video camera. (Hmm, could that have been an oversight?)
Karen and Jerry Wagner and their group Maile Swing from Santa Rosa, California were scheduled for the third spot, but had to cancel. (Karen, we hope that you have fully recovered and are able to come to our next festival). Al Nip from Lahaina, Maui, volunteered to fill in and played a very nice slack key/ vocal set accompanied by Alan Akaka. Their playing and vocals transported us to Hawaii for a brief time.
Christo Ruppenthal from Madison, Wisconsin was up next playing some vintage tunes on his National Style 3 Tricone. As usual, Christo played flawlessly and presented excellent background information on his vintage songs and their original recording artists from the 1920’s and 1930’s.
As the program was already running behind schedule, Alan combined his set with Mãlie Lyman’s 4:30 program. Listening to teacher and student play together was a treat. The duo was accompanied by Bill Wynne on rhythm guitar and Mark Kahalekulu on bass guitar.
I am happy to report that Thursday evening happy hour went well. Many of us adjourned to the hotel for their happy hour from 5 to 6 p.m., and yes, most of us stayed a little longer. We returned to the Odd Fellows Hall at 7:00 p.m. for a talk story session with Málie and our traditional Kani Ka Pila jam session at 8:00 p.m.
I will pause here to mention that we video recorded most of the member performers during the festival. Fortunately, a friend of Patti Maxine also recorded much of the festival, and some of these videos are already posted on the HSGA website (thank you, Norm Markowitz). HSGA’s virtual festival series will return on January 12, 2024, and we will present our own videos from the Cupertino Festival.
Friday’s festival day began at 10:00 a.m. with Tony Fourcroy from Ft. Collins, Colorado, backed by Mark Kahalekulu on guitar and Alan Akaka on bass. Tony presented a nice set of Hawaiian steel guitar contemporary classics.
Mark Kahalekulu, from Aurora, Colorado (and the Big Island of Hawaii) stayed on the stage to present his set, playing guitar and singing some beautiful Hawaiian songs. Mark has a shining personality and his heartfelt set lit up the room.
Joe Stewart from Broomfield, Colorado, a key HSGA member who mails out our quarterly newsletter and maintains the member database, was up at 11:00. Joe is one of the few players who sings most of his songs and plays his own fills and solos on steel guitar. Nice job, Joe.
Following Joe was a group of local mem-bers & first timers to the festival program. The group included Randee Chin (steel guitar/ukulele/vocals), Lillian Fujimoto (steel guitar/ukulele/vocals), Nancy Alegria (steel guitar), and Frank Vernon (bass guitar). When Randee initially volunteered the group to play, she was somewhat reluctant and suggested that their set might be one or two songs. Well, they played the entire 25 minutes and did a great job. Nancy played steel guitar on most of the groups’ songs, and Randy and Lillian did I nice steel guitar duet. Welcome to the stage, folks and see you next year!
AFTER OUR LUNCH BREAK, CHRISTO RUPPENTHAL PLAYED ANOTHER SET OF SONGS. THIS TIME AROUND, CHRIS MIXED IN SOME OLD JAZZ TUNES
Chris has had a busy summer playing more gigs compared to previous years. All of that practicing certainly shows in his performances.
Al Nip from Lahaina, Maui was in the 2nd afternoon spot. Al is a wonderful story teller and entertainer. He engaged the audience in between songs with explanation of the songs that he played and sang. Al was backed by Christo Ruppenthal on guitar and Mark Kahalekulu on bass guitar.
Mark Kahalekulu followed Al with an impromptu set of songs. He was backed by Alan Akaka and Bill Wynne.
I was relieved to see Patti Maxine in the room on day two of the festival. We were not sure that she could attend on any day other than Saturday. Patti agreed to take my scheduled playing time. (I’d much rather listen to Patti than myself!) Patti is always a hit with the crowd. She was backed by Alan Akaka on bass and Bill Wynne on guitar.
Garry and Debbie Vanderlinde from Garden Grove, California were up next. Garry and Debbie are also a popular act with the festival crowd. Garry asked me to back him on bass guitar and sent me his chord charts in advance of the festival. That was a life saver, and I was also able to listen to some of his songs on YouTube before the festival. Debbie sat between us, and we both played too loud. I apologize to Debbie for the stereo ear ache!
Alan Akaka, Justin Firmeza, and Mālie Lyman then took the stage to wrap up the afternoon. Mālie and Justin, both former scholarship students, did their Kumu Alan proud. Unfortunately, the memory card on my video camera maxed out, so I didn’t video the dynamic trio. I’m hoping that someone else in the room captured the performance on their camera or phone.
After the Friday evening happy hour and dinner break, Alan Akaka conducted a workshop entitled “Techniques, Tunings, and Talk Story”. As always, Alan’s workshop was educational, informative and entertaining.
I heard that the jam session that followed the workshop was also great fun. I cannot report any details, as by eight o’clock, I needed sleep more than jam.
Saturday morning came soon enough, and I saw many of our members in the hotel breakfast area. Some were more blurry eyed than others, but all looked happy.
Around 10 AM, we made our way over to the Odd Fellows Hall for Christo Ruppenthal’s special workshop presentation on Antique Aloha Vintage Hawaiian Guitar recordings.
Thanks to the Odd Fellows Hall for the use of their large screen TV. Christo is like the Ken Burns for Hawaiian steel guitar; informative and entertaining.
Mark Kahalekulu, accompanied by Al Nip on bass guitar, provided us with a set of Hawaiian songs. Mark played guitar and both Mark and Al sang duets in the Hawaiian language, which was a very nice start to the day.
Eric Rindal from San Francisco follwed Mark on the program. Eric was accompanied by Christo Ruppenthal on guitar and Mikiya Matsuda on upright bass. What a nice sound they produced.
Eric brought some of his vintage instruments to play and share with the crowd, including a 1936 Rickenbacher Model B lap steel and a 1935 Model A-22 Rickenbacher Fry Pan. Perhaps the rarest item was his 1936 Rickenbacher Electro Standard Amplifier that was nicknamed “The Lunchbox”. This amp has an on switch and that’s it! No volume or tone control. The volume is controlled by the guitar’s volume knob, and the louder the volume, the brighter the tone.
ALAN AKAKA AND MĀLIE LYMAN
WRAPPED UP THE AFTERNOON.
Mālie and Alan both played Hawaiian steel guitar, with Bill Wynne on guitar, Justin Firmeza on ukulele, and Mikiya Matsuda on upright bass. In my opinion, Mālie has inherited the quality of her voice from her Great Grandmother, Genoa Keawe. Her vocals were sweet and her steel guitar playing was smooth. Clearly, her playing style is heavily influenced by her teacher (Alan).
We were fortunate to have hula dancers featured throughout the afternoon, as well as during our Luau Dinner Show. These included Cindy Yan from Bejiing, China, as well as delightful performances from local hula dancers. (shout-out to HSGA member Randee Chin for lining up our dancers, and coordinating the music with Alan for their dances!)
Special thanks to our dedicated festival volunteers:
Randee Chin, Teri Gorman, Nancy Alegria, Lillian Fujimoto, Jeanne Skybrooke, and luau servers Shizue Souza, Jennifer Jow and Leana Oliffe, as well as facility coordination from Jim Kabage.
More thanks to Christo Ruppenthal for helping me set up the heavy stage floor.Plus all of our members who were willing to pitch in as needed for room set-up, tear-down and clean up, make more coffee, etc.
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