Republic in the North Caucasus
Chechnya bans music that is too fast – and music that is too slow too
Chechnya’s ruler Ramzan Kadyrov dares to dance
© ITAR-TASS / Imago Images
What sounds bizarre is actually serious. Music that does not adhere to certain speed limits is no longer allowed to be played in Chechnya.
Authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Chechnya, part of the Russian Federation, announced a ban on music that is too fast or too slow. The responsible culture minister, Musa Dadayev, announced this new regulation at a meeting on Friday, as CNN quoted from a report by the TASS news agency. All musical, vocal and choreographic compositions must therefore be limited to a tempo between 80 and 116 beats per minute (BPM).
Chechnya’s artists should adapt music to new regulations
So, under Kadyrov’s direction, the region is now ensuring that Chechen music and dance creations are in harmony with the “Chechen mentality and musical rhythm”, with the aim of “bringing the cultural heritage of the Chechen people closer to the people and the future of our children Dadayev added as justification for the regulation. After all, it is simply “inadmissible to appropriate the musical culture of other peoples.”
In this context, the affected artists should be given until June 1st to rewrite music that does not meet the new criteria. If their music is not revised, they will no longer be allowed to perform it publicly, as Sky News reports. Any – mostly Western – rave and techno music, which in the vast majority of cases has a higher BPM rate, would be banned under the new regulation.
Chechnya, with its capital Grozny, is located in the North Caucasus and, like many other republics of the collapsed Soviet Union, wanted to become independent in the early 1990s. Vladimir Putin began occupying Chechnya in 1999. Since then, the Putin-loyal Kadyrov clan has ruled the area.