Redeeming the Sound: When Music Leads Us Back to Identity — Part 2

When Traditional Instruments Become Bridges to the Creator

By Star Maglajos

Elingan Jana

In Part 1, I shared about meeting Elingan Jana, an 89-year-old traditional musician and instrument maker in Tawi-Tawi, and the moment I realized that his fading memory and physical limitations represented something much bigger.

A sound can disappear.

An instrument can be forgotten.

An elder can pass away.

And when there is no one ready to receive what they carried, an entire piece of a people's identity can fade with them.

But I don't believe the story has to end there.

Because what is being lost can also be redeemed.

Redeeming What Is Being Lost

This is why I believe the work of redeeming traditional music matters.

We aren't simply trying to preserve old sounds because they are interesting.

We are helping people recover something connected to who they are.

Traditional instruments are physical reminders of a people's story.

Their music carries memory.

Their craftsmanship carries knowledge.

Their songs carry language.

Their rhythms carry history.

And when these things are intentionally passed from one generation to another, something powerful happens.

A young person begins to realize:

"This is part of me."

Caleb Byerly is an instrument maker who specializes in redeeming, promoting, and preserving ancient instruments from different countries.

In a world where globalization, modernization, and rapidly changing technology can easily cause traditional expressions to disappear, there is an urgent need to preserve what is valuable intentionally.

But preservation alone is not enough.

We believe in redemption.

Redemption means more than keeping something old in a museum.

It means taking what has been forgotten, restoring its value, and allowing it to live again in the hands of a new generation.

And for us as missionaries, that redemption carries an even deeper purpose.

When an Instrument Opens a Door to the Gospel

We have already witnessed this through the story of the Tinonanon.

The Tinonanon had a traditional instrument called the Salimbaa that had been lost from their community's living expression.

Through Caleb Byerly and the work of Evergreen Instruments, God opened a door to help redeem that instrument.

And something beautiful happened.

Caleb Byerly and the Salimbaa

The instrument became a bridge.

It opened conversations.

It communicated honor.

It told the Tinonanon people that someone cared enough to learn about something that belonged to them.

And through those relationships, the Gospel was shared.

They discovered that God knew them.

He saw them.

He had not forgotten them.

The sound of their own instrument became part of a story that ultimately pointed them toward their Creator.

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 Caleb Byerly, The Tinonanons and the Salimbaa

That story has deeply shaped the way I see missions.

Sometimes we think reaching people means bringing something they don't have.

But sometimes, reaching people begins by recognizing and honoring something God has already placed within them.

Their story.

Their language.

Their creativity.

Their music.

Their identity.

And through that place of connection, we can build relationships and share the greater story of the One who created them.

That is the kind of redemption we are praying for in Tawi-Tawi.

Not merely that traditional instruments will survive.

But that they will once again become part of the living identity of the people who created them—and that this identity will ultimately point them toward the God who created them.

Why Music Matters in Missions

At Evergreen Missions, we believe missions begins with loving people.

That means learning to listen.

Learning their stories.

Learning their language.

Learning their culture.

Learning what they value.

And sometimes, that means learning their music.

Caleb Byerly playing the Salimbaa

We don't want to enter a community and tell people that everything they have is wrong simply because it is unfamiliar to us.

We want to ask:

What has God already placed here?

What expressions of beauty exist?

What stories have been carried through generations?

What instruments are waiting to be rediscovered?

What sounds have almost disappeared?

And how can we come alongside the people themselves to redeem and restore what is valuable?

Music gives us a beautiful way to ask those questions.

It gives us an opportunity to sit at the table before we ever step behind a pulpit.

It gives us a reason to listen before we speak.

It gives us a way to honor before we teach.

And sometimes, it opens a door that words alone could never open.

A New Sound for a New Generation

This is why the Evergreen Missions Team Philippines is coming alongside MSU Tawi-Tawi in this journey.

Our goal is to explore, learn, collaborate, and help create opportunities for the younger generation to rediscover and embrace the traditional music and instruments of Tawi-Tawi.

This coming October, our team will return to Tawi-Tawi for a special musical event with MSU Tawi-Tawi.

The event will include seminars on the importance of music, the revival of traditional instruments, and conversations about traditional, modern, and AI-generated music.

We will also have the privilege of performing and blessing the students of MSU Tawi-Tawi.

But our prayer goes much deeper than one event.

We are praying for a generation that will say:

"This is our sound."

"This is part of our story."

"This is part of our identity."

We pray that young people will sit with their elders and learn.

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 Photo courtesy of One Voice Magazine. Used with permission.

That they will pick up instruments that have almost been forgotten.

That they will ask questions.

That they will value their heritage.

That they will discover the beauty of their own identity.

And that, through this journey, they will eventually encounter the One who gave them that identity.

From Identity to the Creator

Scripture tells us:

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works." — Ephesians 2:10

Every people group is part of God's creative work.

Every language.

Every culture.

Every community.

Every expression of beauty.

This doesn't mean that everything within every culture is automatically good or needs to be preserved exactly as it is.

But it does mean we should learn to recognize and honor the beauty, creativity, and identity God has woven into humanity.

That is why redeeming traditional sound matters to us.

We aren't worshipping the culture.

We are honoring the people.

And through honoring the people, we hope to point them toward their Creator.

Back to Elingan

And somehow, I keep coming back to that little hut.

To Elingan.

To his old violin.

To his trembling hands searching for the next note.

To the pauses.

To his smile.

"Let me try again."

Perhaps that is where this entire journey begins.

There is still a sound to redeem.

There are still instruments to rediscover.

There are still elders to listen to.

There are still young people who need to learn.

There are still stories that need to be passed on.

And there are still people who need to know that their identity matters.

We don't know how much longer Elingan will be able to play.

But perhaps God allowed us to meet him so that his story would remind us of something important:

We cannot wait until the last musician is gone before we decide that the music matters.

We cannot wait until the last instrument disappears before we begin preserving it.

We cannot wait until the last elder is gone before we start listening.

The time to redeem the sound is now.

And as Evergreen Missions and Evergreen Instruments continue this journey with our friends in Tawi-Tawi, our prayer is not simply to preserve the past.

It is to help awaken the future.

A future where young people know their story.

Where they embrace their identity.

Where traditional instruments are played again.

Where old sounds are given new life.

And where the beauty of those sounds becomes a bridge toward the One who created every people, every language, and every expression of human creativity.

We are not simply preserving a sound.

We are helping a people remember who they are.

And as they rediscover their identity, our prayer is that they will discover the One who gave it to them.

So perhaps the question isn't simply, "How do we save a traditional instrument?"

Perhaps the better question is:

"What could God do through a sound that a people almost lost?"

Maybe it could restore a memory.

Maybe it could reconnect a generation to its elders.

Maybe it could awaken a young person's sense of identity.

Maybe it could open a door to relationship.

Maybe it could become a bridge to the Gospel.

And maybe, through that sound, someone who has never known Him will discover the Creator who has known them all along.

The sound can be redeemed.

The identity can be remembered.

And the story can continue.