The Russian Republic of Chechnya recently banned Russian dance music deemed either too fast or too slow, in a bizarre attempt to fight the Western “pollution” of its conservative values.
Musa Dadayev, Chechnya’s Minister of Culture, recently put out a statement that effectively criminalizes most modern dance music genres that are typically played in clubs all over the world, from house and techno to dubstep or drum’n’bass. Dadayev said that “all musical, vocal and choreographic works should correspond to a tempo of 80-116 beats per minute,” in order to conform to Chechen mentality and sense of rhythm. Russian media reports that Chechen artists have until June 1st to rewrite any music that does not conform with the new requirements.
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“Borrowing musical culture from other peoples is inadmissible,” Dadayev said. “We must bring to the people and to the future of our children the cultural heritage of the Chechen people. This includes the entire spectrum of moral and ethical standards of life for Chechens.”
Apparently, the Chechen regime controlled by authoritarian leader Ramzan Kadyrov wants to preserve the country’s traditional rhythm by excluding all musical, vocal, and choreographic works outside the 80 – 216 BPM range from Chechnya’s daily life. It’s basically another weird way of preventing Western influences on the Russian republic’s conservative Muslim culture.
“I have announced the final decision, agreed with the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov, that from now on all musical, vocal, and choreographic works must correspond to a tempo of 80 to 116 beats per minute,” Musa Dadayev told Russian news agency TASS.
The bizarre move means that, if enforced, the new rule will ban many Western songs from multiple genres, including pop, disco, and rock, leaving Chechens to enjoy traditional music genres like khalkaran yish orilli yish.