Ingeniously crafted from indigenous materials, mainly bamboo and narra, the instruments were all painstakingly handmade by Prof. Calabig himself.

The basic instruments are the marimba (which provides the melody), the lira gabbang (a traditional Muslim instrument), bumbong and panpipes (which carry out bass and chord rhythms), and angklungs (which provide melodies and counterpoints to the marimba tunes).

From these original instruments, new ones were created by Prof. Calabig as he has found more creative and innovative ways of producing sound and harmony from various species of bamboo.  Their names were derived from combining the first two syllables of his surname "kala", and the sound that the instruments produce.   These include the kalagong (which enhances the bass section),  the kalatok (a percussion instrument), the kalabong (a small version of the marimba), and the kalavien (patterned after a Vietnamese instrument).

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