The Nokia tune (also called Grande Valse) is a phrase from a composition for solo guitar, Gran Vals, by the Spanish classical guitarist and composer Francisco Tárrega, written in 1902. It has been the icon of Finnish corporation Nokia since the 1990s, becoming the first identifiable musical ringtone on a mobile phone, and has become a cult classic.
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History
The "Nokia Tune" was first heard briefly for 3 seconds in a Nokia 1011 commercial in 1992, as part of the Gran Vals used in the ad.
In 1993 Anssi Vanjoki, then Executive Vice President of Nokia, brought the whole Gran Vals to Lauri Kivinen (then Head of Corporate Communications) and together they selected the excerpt that became "Nokia tune". The excerpt is taken from measures (bars) 13–16 of the piece.
The Nokia Tune first appeared on the Nokia 2110 released in 1994, under the name ringtone Type 7, showing that it was just one of the normal ringtones. The tune's original name varied in the ringtone list, being listed as Type 13 on some phones, or Type 5 on others. In December 1997 with the introduction of the Nokia 6110, ringtones were each given a specific name, and this is where the Nokia tune came, though it was originally called Grande valse. In 1999, Grande valse was renamed as Nokia tune and effectively became Nokia's flagship ringtone.
In December 1999, Jimmy Cauty, formerly of The KLF, and Guy Pratt released the mobile telephone-themed novelty-pop record "I Wanna 1-2-1 With You" under the name Solid Gold Chartbusters which heavily samples the theme. It was released as competition for the UK Christmas number one single but only got to number 62. The release of this song prevented the Super Furry Animals from releasing their song "Wherever I Lay My Phone (That's My Home)" from the album Guerrilla as a single, on the grounds that it was also based on a mobile phone theme.
Evolution
It has since been evolved into many different types with the evolution of mobile phones' audio capabilities:
With the release of Nokia 108 in 2015 the polyphonic MIDI version was introduced.
There are more versions of the Nokia tune than just these—however, those would be minor and simply be a variant of one of these major five. One exception is an official dubstep version that was made in 2011 as part of Nokia's crowdsourcing campaign the Nokia Tune Remake competition; this is available alongside the traditional Nokia tune.
One unknown Nokia Tune is heard in the Nokia 2300 and the Nokia Tune from that phone does not fit into any of the categories listed.
Legacy
In 2009, it was reported that the tune is heard worldwide an estimated 1.8 billion times per day, about 20,000 times per second.
Tapio of the Nokia Design Sound Team said that the 2011 remake competition, in which 2,800 people from 70 countries revamped the tune, shows how passionate people are about the Nokia Tune and how it remains as an integrated part of the company.
The tune has been registered by Nokia as a sound trademark in some countries.
Covers
Hong Kong singer Khalil Fong, a Nokia spokesperson for Greater China, composed a song called "Coconut Shell" (椰殼) which features a segment of the Nokia tune played on the erhu, a Chinese two-string instrument.
Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin wrote a short composition entitled Valse Irritation d'Après Nokia based on the tune.
The Indonesian rock band The Changcuters included the segment of the Nokia tune on their song Parampampam. The song was included on their 2011 album Tugas Akhir.
Nokia celebrated the 20 years of the ringtone in 2014 by recording an a cappella version.