A steady stream of people elbowed their way in to catch a glimpse of some of the state’s best slack key guitar musicians during the 19th Annual Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Festival “Kaua‘i-Island Style” Sunday. The event turned the Kaua‘i
A steady stream of people elbowed their way in to catch a glimpse of some of the state’s best slack key guitar musicians during the 19th Annual Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Festival “Kaua‘i-Island Style” Sunday.
The event turned the Kaua‘i Beach Resort’s Jasmine Ballroom into a standing-room only venue as hundreds of people lined the walls of the ballroom and a few dozen more spilled out of the front entrance.
Like previous festivals, the six-hour concert kicked off with a slew of Kaua‘i-based slack key guitarists, including Doug and Sandy McMaster, Pancho Graham, Millicent Cummings, Cindy Combs and Paul Togioka. Maui musicians Kimo West and Michael Ka‘awea also performed leading up to the evening’s headlining artists.
Considered staples of Hawai‘i’s music scene, Ledward Ka‘apana, Brother Noland, LT Smooth, Makana, Keale and Chris Lau and Dennis Kamakahi with Stephen Inglis (who also performed earlier in the concert) closed out the last three hours of the concert.
Makana drew the biggest applause from the crowd when performed the pro-Occupy song “We Are The Many” as an encore to his set.
The festival was presented by Milton Lau and the Ki-Ho Alu Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps promote and perpetuate Hawaiian slack key music.
Visit www.slackkeyfestival.com for more information about the foundation or the festival.
