Punake—poet, composer, and orator—bear the responsibility of sustaining language, history, and culture in Tonga and around the world. While the punake in Tonga have long served as cultural stewards, their work in diaspora settings takes on new urgency as communities confront linguistic erosion, generational shifts, and changing relationships to tradition. Drawing on extensive interviews with the punake and community members across nine U.S. states, this paper examines how contemporary punake navigate creativity, responsibility, and cultural preservation in the U.S. diaspora. I explore how the punake conceptualize their creative process, particularly the significance of original compositions as vessels for genealogy, language, collective memory, and spiritual meaning. Original compositions are not only creative expressions of culture but also acts of service that honor ancestors and strengthen communal identity. The study further highlights how diaspora contexts reshape the work of the punake through community expectations as linguistic translation becomes more complex, and support networks shift as the punake collaborate across distance and negotiate gaps in cultural knowledge. By foregrounding the voices gathered through individual interviews of three punake, this paper shows the diverse pathways through which they learn, create, and teach. Their experiences demonstrate how musical creativity becomes a strategy for cultural and language continuity, allowing Tongan communities abroad to hear, feel, and embody their heritage. Ultimately, this research shows that the punake in the diaspora serve as both culture bearers and innovators that bridge the past and present.