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A harmless scientific experiment
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Episode 6: Mumbai
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Regional ringtones
Just over 4 weeks ago we invited everyone to participate in creating ringtones - ringtones that embrace the heart and soul of the music where you live, helping us celebrate and spread the exciting diversity of the world's music.
Through the audio crowdsourcing platform run by AudioDraft, there was a fantastic response to the five contests, with a total of 1,500 entries spread over the China, India, Middle East & Africa, South East Asia & Pacific, and Latin America contests. Prizes on offer included a cash reward of USD 1,500 for each winning entry and a chance to get your ringtone into a Nokia handset for the 2013 portfolio in the regions they were created for. According to Henry Daw, Principal Sound Designer from Nokia, there will be a very "high quality, vibrant, and colourful selection of regional ringtones coming to our Nokia handsets very soon". He goes on to add: "All five contests were very satisfying to run, with high levels of engagement and a great collective spirit throughout the AudioDraft crowdsourcing community."
All contest winners were clearly delighted to receive the notification from Nokia. PhRey (Phil) from France won for his entry in the South East Asia & Pacific contest. He went on to say: "This contest was one of the most exciting and one of the most difficult in which I participated, and thank you Nokia for this great adventure."
Ikwano from Nigeria was rewarded for his entry in the Middle East & Africa contest. Ikwano explained why he decided to enter the contest: "There are millions of Nokia brand loyalists in Sub-Saharan Africa and I saw an opportunity to give them what I felt they would typically love to hear as an African ringtone."
The contests also provided a platform for composers to express their passion for local music that is most relevant for them. Tony_Gomez won for his entry, based on the classic cumbia of Colombia. Tony goes on to say: "I wanted to take part because I love the Latin American music!"
Other winners were grateful for the valuable learnings taken from the contests, in which regular feedback was given to each participant's entries. Lubiomatic (Antonio), who had a winning entry in the China contest, told us: "I am working in order to improve my abilities as a composer and sound engineer, confronting myself with musicians of all levels and from all over the world was certainly stimulating." Ram Sankar who won for his entry in the India contest also said: "I've really enjoyed working with my entry... I want to really credit Nokia for giving me specific feedback for improving the piece every time."
All 25 winning entries will come to our handsets in 2013 for the regions they were designed for, but Henry also plans to make the ringtones available for all to enjoy. It's as Henry says, which nicely sums up the spirit of the contest: "It doesn't matter where you are from, we all really do speak the same language of music."
In the meantime, all 25 winning entries can be listened and enjoyed via the AudioDraft contest websites: China, India, MEA, SEAP and Latin America.
Nokia congratulates all those who participated in making these contests such a success. -
The devil in the detail
Perfection’s about the tiny little details. Which is why the artist Dennis Manarchy spent ten years making a gigantic film camera with a lens and film big enough to make eyelashes look like huge, translucent tubes.
Made at his studio in Chicago, Manarchy’s giant camera (dubbed ‘the Eye of America’) is a working prototype that produces two-metre-tall negatives and 12-metre-high portraits. It’s part of a touring project that will take the camera on a 32,000 kilometre road trip across the United States, capturing the faces of disappearing and emerging cultures.
To find out more about Manarchy’s project, Vanishing Cultures: An American Portrait, and see the Eye of America in action, visit thefpac.org
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Regional ringtones
Over the years, Nokia has built one of the most recognizable audio brands in the world. From the iconic Nokia Tune ringtone to message alerts, and beyond.
We've always prided ourselves on providing ringtones that are locally relevant to where you live, whether you're from Shanghai, São Paulo, or San Diego. Music is incredibly diverse right across the globe, from traditional bossa nova in Brazil to the classical styles of India or the Rai of Algeria. Music also provides strong emotional connections to local culture and identity - a factor that has become more and more important in the face of the increasingly commercially driven music churned out today.
So today, we're inviting everyone everywhere to participate in creating ringtones - ringtones that embrace the heart and soul of the music where you live. Help us celebrate and spread the exciting diversity of the world's music, and support our firm belief in a thriving local music culture.
Through using Audiodraft’s crowd-sourcing platform, we're holding five separate contests: China, India, Latin America, South East Asia & Pacific and Middle East & Africa. The winning ringtones will be added to the specific regions they were created for, sitting alongside Nokia's global set of ringtones for 2013. There is a prize fund totalling over 37,000 USD on offer plus the chance to get your work into millions of handsets.
"We are looking for expertly crafted ringtones that have some connection with local music styles and flavours." says Henry Daw, Principal Sound Designer from Nokia Sound Design Team. " The melodies should be wholly original, with no reference to the classic Nokia tune or any existing melodies. Keep it original, get creative, be bold... and have fun!" -
Wordplay
What's in a word, a sentence, a phrase? Movement, rhythm, character, fun and nonsense.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog, Albert bought a bassoon and blasted a puffing melody, whilst wrong practising of xylophone music bothers every larger dwarf.
Wordplay explores language and the written word - phrases that are familiar, funny, silly and thoughtful - things we learnt at school, or have forgotten long ago?
Nokia Pure, pure fun - left to right, right to left, upside down and back to front.
Thirteen localised versions of our Nokia Pure font that may inspire you to learn a new language, or to discover places, both near and far.
Wordplay - playing with words, Pure and simple.
Design by Build, animation by Jimi Newport & Nick Appleton and original music by J-VEN.
