Before the telecommunications industry made it acceptable to have something audibly vibrating in your pants in public places, there was once a mythical beast known as the “ringtone.” We’re exaggerating a bit, but the sex appeal of having a hip or stylish ringtone has dipped over time and the scramble to marry a Mike Jones snippet to the sound your phone makes for an incoming call has screeched to a bit of a halt. Still, there’s something noble to the art of the ringtone and in particular the default version that comes with your device.
In a new video showcased on Boing Boing, Canadian musician Tony Ann has managed to bring out an unlikely aura of elegance to some of the most iconic ringtone sounds of all-time. In a video that’s been sensibly titled “Famous Cellphone Ringtones Played on the Piano (Tony Ann Arrangement),” we see Ann inject some life and finesse into such old standbys as the iPhone’s ‘Marimba’ ring, T-Mobile’s “T Jingle” and the original Nokia ring. On your phone, these sounds strike fear into your heart that someone might actually be trying to reach you for a human-to-human conversation (BOOOOOOOOO!), but on piano there’s a ritzy flair to the proceedings. Essentially, it’s a novelty that’s novel.
“This past week has been unbelievable and very heartwarming,” shared Ann in a Facebook post about his increasingly popular ringtone rendition video. “I never expected the ringtone video to reach out to so many people. I am very grateful for the love and support that I have gotten and the new friends that I have made, I will never take any of this for granted.”
Interested in more offerings from Tony Ann’s bag of tricks? We have a few below, including a DJ Snake medley, a Nick Jonas cover and mashup of One Direction tunes. None have managed to crack the 100,000 barrier like his ringtone adventure managed, but that could definitely change as momentum builds for Ann’s mobile memory lane tour.
(via Boing Boing)