Nokia tune
You might remember it as Gran Vals, Nokia ringtone
A possible recording is known, but ViralWorld has not verified that it is the right one.
1994·Early web, before YouTube
Thirteen notes from a 19th-century guitar piece, heard by more people than any other melody.
At a glanceThe facts
- Remembered as
- Gran Vals
- Spread in
- 1994
- Format
- Sound
- Taken from
- Bars 13 to 16 of Gran Vals, a piece for solo guitar by Francisco Tárrega
- Made by
- Chosen for Nokia by Anssi Vanjoki and Lauri Kivinen in 1993
- Origin
- No single original
- Available
- Not held by ViralWorld
What this wasThe story
Francisco Tárrega's Gran Vals, four bars of it, set as a ringtone in 1994 and played an estimated billion-plus times a day at its height. The first sound the whole world shared, and an early internet joke long before phones had browsers.
Why it matteredWhat changed
Four bars of a guitar waltz from 1902 were, by 2009, being played 1.8 billion times a day, about twenty thousand times every second.
TimelineIn order
- Made
Tárrega writes Gran Vals.1
- Made
Nokia uses a recording of the piece in an advertisement for a phone.1
- Posted
The phrase first appears as a ringtone, on the Nokia 2110.1
- Record
It is reported to be heard 1.8 billion times a day.1
The version you rememberNot the same thing
A phrase of the waltz, on the Nokia 2110 from 1994.1
A waltz for guitar written in 1902.1
What people misrememberSet straight
Commonly remembered asNokia composed it.
ActuallyIt is a quotation from a Spanish guitar piece written in 1902.1
Why it is here: something the internet still knows by name · it got out of its own corner of the internet fast · still being watched and quoted years later
Where it came fromWhat we know
This spread through many posts rather than one identifiable original. The example shown is one surviving copy and is not claimed as the first.
Nothing here is claimed to be the first version of this. It spread through many posts rather than from one identifiable original.
Not established. This index only names a creator where the evidence supports it.
SourcesWhat was read
Sources last read on . That date is about the history on this page. Whether the media still plays is checked separately and can change any day. How ViralWorld documents things