Steel guitar music started on the island of Oahu — and teachers there are working with the next generation of students to continue the tradition. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Quincy Cortez ...

When Alan Akaka was growing up, a young musician in his teens and 20s in Honolulu, he played steel guitar with some of the top names in Hawaiian music. When they spoke, he listened: ...

Quincy Cortez plucks at a slim black box laid across his legs, his fingers flashing silver. Steel strings twang with each pull from the metal rings — wearable guitar picks — adorning his right thumb, ...