Most of you, when not gaming, may be glued to your TV sets watching GMA 7′s Survivor Philippines, yes?

Do you know that a Ragnarok player composed the new theme song for this Survivor series? It’s none other than good friend and pRO veteran Master Diwa de Leon. Diwa’s a pro violinist known to most also a cosplayer, a film maker, composer and good Ragnarok player. Talent and creativity is this guy’s middle name! He and co-creator Edwin Guillermo even bagged the 2nd place of the LIVE 2008 Filmfest with their entry Hindi Ako Botter (where I get a special cameo appearance. Woot!).

Listen to the song and my interview with MD after the break…

Master Diwa on Composing the Survivor Philippines theme, New Chaos and Ragnarok

Listen to the song first and then read the interview below

GM T: How did you end up making the Survivor PH theme? Who got you involved?
Master Diwa: It was a bunch of referrals from contacts in the music industry and the last stop was me. I grabbed the opportunity and never let go.

GM T: What was your inspiration to make the music?
Master Diwa: Well of course, my main inspiration is the vast traditional music culture that we have in the Philippines. I chose my favorite drum beats and incorporated them in the totality of the music. GMA 7 also provided me sound samples and a copy of the original Survivor theme by Russ Landau.

GM T: Any challenges during the actual composition and recording?
Master Diwa: The actual music making process is a natural thing for me. The real challenge was actually pleasing the executives of GMA 7.

In this kind of production, everyone was a boss, and each has their own idea of how the music should sound like. So I really had to compromise a lot in the final output. And this didn’t happen only once, there were around 6-7 revisions before the final music materialized.

GM T: What advice can you give aspiring musicians?
Master Diwa: Don’t stop doing what you do if you know you are good. But if you think you’re bad, and your mother thinks so too, do us a favor and do something else. The last thing we composers need is non-deserving competition.

GM T: New Chaos is up! Any thoughts about this?
Master Diwa: The existence of new Chaos is a double-edged sword for me. It signifies a fresh start for all commercial servers. As I’ve witnessed it, old players are returning. I can see it in their YM status messages that they are playing again. However, a server merge for also means that the total player community has decreased. But hopefully, with good events and perks, perhaps the Philippine Ragnarok Online community will dramatically increase again.

GM T:  Final words to Survivor PH fans and RO players?
Survivor and Ragnarok, wala masyado pinagkaiba yan. Matira pa rin ang matibay! Rok on guys and gals!

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Thanks for your time, Diwa. Meanwhile let me share a photo: here’s MD and me during the Valkyrie Press Conference

Agian, thanks for the interview, MD. More power to you and your future endeavors.

If you guys know of any Ragnarok player with achievements such as Diwa, let me know. We’ll feature him or her here! Thanks!

Related Links

• Survivor Philippines song on Imeem
• Master Diwa’s Blog
• Master Diwa’s Gamer Profile on gmtristan.com