The Nokia tune (also called Grande Valse) is a phrase from a composition for solo guitar, ''Gran Vals'', composed in 1902 by the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

classical guitarist and composer Francisco Tárrega. It has been associated with Finnish corporation Nokia since the 1990s, becoming the first identifiable musical

ringtone A ringtone, ring tone or ring is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming call. Originally referring to and made by the electromechanical striking of bells, the term now refers to any sound on any device alerting of a new incoming ...

on a mobile phone.

History

In 1992, Nokia used Francisco Tárrega's ''Gran Vals'' as the background music in a commercial for the

Nokia 1011 The Nokia 1011 (NHE-2X5, NHE-2XN) is the first mass-produced GSM phone. It was sold also as Mobira Cityman 2000. The typenumber refers to the launch date, 10 November 1992. The black handset measured 195 x 60 x 45 mm and featured a monochr ...

. The excerpt of ''Gran Vals'' used includes the phrase that would later be used for the Nokia tune ringtone. 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 The Nokia 2110 is a cellular phone made by the Finnish telecommunications firm Nokia, first announced in February 1993. It is the first Nokia phone with the famous Nokia tune ringtone. The phone can send and receive SMS messages; and lists ten di ...

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, 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 the tune received the name "Grande valse". Some later Nokia phones (e.g. some 3310s) still used Type 7 as the name of the Nokia tune. In 1998, "Grande valse" was renamed to "Nokia tune" and effectively became Nokia's flagship ringtone.

Later versions

The Nokia tune has been updated several times, either to take advantage of advancing technology or to reflect musical trends at the time. The first polyphonic MIDI version of the Nokia tune, created by composer Ian Livingstone (often mistaken as being Thomas Dolby's work), was introduced in 2001 with the release of two South Korea-exclusive devices, the Nokia 8877 and the Nokia 8887. The

Nokia 3510 The Nokia 3510 is a mobile phone for the GSM network, introduced by Nokia on 12 March 2002. The phone was the first Nokia phone to bring GPRS internet services to the mass market. It was also the first Nokia phone to ship with Beatnik's miniBAE ...

, released in 2002, was the first globally released phone to include this version, using

Beatnik Beatniks were members of a social movement in the 1950s that subscribed to an anti-materialistic lifestyle. History In 1948, Jack Kerouac introduced the phrase "Beat Generation", generalizing from his social circle to characterize the underg ...

's miniBAE technology. The

Nokia 9500 Communicator Nokia 9500 Communicator is a smartphone produced by Nokia, introduced on 24 February 2004realtone recorded piano version. A guitar-based version was introduced with the

Nokia N78 The Nokia N78 is a 3G smartphone made by Nokia. It was first introduced at the Mobile World Congress on 11 February 2008, and was launched on 26 May 2008 for €350 before taxes and subsidies. It runs on Symbian 9.3 ( S60 3rd Edition, FP2) and wa ...

in 2008, reflecting the popularity of nu-folk at the time. The Nokia N9 in late 2011 introduced a new version, which was created by in-house composer Henry Daw. This version uses a

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

for its melody, and was intended to be genre-neutral. The same year, a contest titled Nokia Tune Remake was held on the crowdsourcing website Audiodraft. The winning entry was a dubstep version, which was shipped on many Nokia phones from 2012 to 2013 alongside the regular Nokia tune. Another updated version of the Nokia tune was introduced in 2013, built on the same principles as the 2011 version. In 2018, a new version was introduced on the

Nokia 1 The Nokia 1 is a Nokia-branded budget Android Go smartphone, developed by HMD Global. It was launched at the Mobile World Congress 2018, in Barcelona, Spain on 25 February 2018. This device, along with the Nokia 8 Sirocco, completes the lineup ...

and 7 Plus. This was also created by Henry Daw; it was intended to be similar to the 2013 version while modernizing it. Other versions have been produced for specific models. These include a slow piano version for the

Nokia 8800 The Nokia 8800 (pronounced ''eighty-eight-hundred'') is a luxury mobile phone produced by Nokia, based on the Nokia Series 40 operating system. The 8800 features a stainless-steel housing with a scratch-resistant screen and has a weight of 134 gr ...

Ryuichi Sakamoto is a Japanese composer, pianist, singer, record producer and actor who has pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto i ...

, and a slow guitar version for the

Nokia 8800 Sirocco Edition The Nokia 8800 (pronounced ''eighty-eight-hundred'') is a luxury mobile phone produced by Nokia, based on the Nokia Series 40 operating system. The 8800 features a stainless-steel housing with a scratch-resistant screen and has a weight of 134 gra ...

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

Legacy

In December 1999, Jimmy Cauty, formerly of The KLF, and

Guy Pratt Guy Adam Pratt (born 3 January 1962) is a British musician. He is best known for his prolific work as a session bass player, working with artists including Pink Floyd (also David Gilmour and Nick Mason), Roxy Music (also Bryan Ferry), Gary Moore ...

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 Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys (lead vocals, guitar), Huw Bunford (lead guitar, vocals), Guto Pryce (bass guitar), Cian C ...

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. The tune was prominently featured in a recurring sketch on the British hidden camera/practical joke reality television series ''

Trigger Happy TV ''Trigger Happy TV'' is a hidden camera/practical joke comedy television series. The original British edition of the show, produced by Absolutely Productions, starred Dom Joly and ran for three series on the British television channel Channel 4 ...

''. In 2009, it was reported that the tune was heard worldwide an estimated 1.8 billion times per day, about 20,000 times per second. The tune has been registered by Nokia as a

sound trademark A sound trademark or sound logo or audio logo is a trademark where sound is used to perform the trademark function of uniquely identifying the commercial origin of products or services. In recent times, sounds have been increasingly used as trade ...

in some countries. Dutch cabaret duo Woe & van der Laan had a 2017 comedy show ''Pesetas'', revolving around Francisco Tarréga and how an excerpt of his ''Gran Vals'' became known as of the ''Nokia Tune''.

Covers

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'' and was also featured on the

Nokia X2-01 The Nokia X2-01 is a low-cost feature phone with a Nokia S40 mobile operating system released under the X-series line of phones by Nokia. It features a full QWERTY keyboard. It is being advertised as an entry-level messaging & Music phone. It ...

for the Indonesian market.

References

External links

*
Nokia tune at SoundCloud (Nokia Design Team / Microsoft Phones Design)
{{Authority control Gran Vals Mobile telecommunications Tune Sound trademarks Mobile phone culture