3 Days of Events Planned for 4th Annual Lanai Festival

By Maui Now Staff

Dennis Kamakahi. Courtesy photo.

The fourth annual Lanai Hawaiian Culture, Film & Music Festival will take place this weekend – Feb. 7, 8 and 9 – at The Four Seasons Resorts Lanai, The Lodge at Koele.

Presented by Four Seasons Resorts Lanai, HawaiiOnTV.com and JazzAlleyTV.com, the festival includes award-winning music from Grammy winner Dennis Kamakahi, ukulele master Benny Uyetake, ukulele master Sheldon Brown, nose flute with Calvin Hoe, Hula Maori and Tahitian dances with Lanakila and Hui.

Events start Friday night at 6 p.m. with “Hawaiian Music Under the Stars” at The Lodge at Koele.

Simultaneously, organizers report that unnamed award-winning Hawaiian films will be shown in The Living Room/Library at the Lodge at Koele from 6 to 10 p.m.

On Saturday morning, head to Lanai City where Sheldon Brown will be playing ukulele from 9 to 11 a.m. at Coffee Works.

Immediately after, enjoy some lunch while taking in the musical stylings of ukulele master Benny Uyetake from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Café 565.

Garden at the Koele Lodge. Photo by Vanessa Wolf.

The festival itself begins at noon on Saturday, Feb. 8, at The Lodge at Koele with a variety of workshops and demonstrations (many simultaneous) as follows.

• 12-1 p.m. – Slack key with Grammy award winner Dennis Kamakai
• 1-2 p.m. – Ukulele workshop with Sheldon Brown
• 1-2 p.m. – Nose flute lessons with Calvin Hoe
• 1-2 p.m. – Hula and Hawaiian crafts with Lanakila
• 1-2 p.m. – Poi pounding demonstration
• 2-3 p.m. – Calvin Hoe talk story

Beginning at 5 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Lodge at Koele, you can anticipate “four hours of award-winning winning music and Polynesian films.”

The weekend comes to a close on Sunday Feb. 9 with live Hawaiian music from Sheldon Brown & Ohana in the Great Hall at The Lodge at Koele from 9:30 a.m. to noon.

There will also be an encore performance from 6 to 9 p.m.

Residents of Maui and other islands might also be interested to learn that the Four Seasons on Lanai are offering special kama’aina room rates for the festival. Call 808-565-4000 for more information.