Chechnya’s culture ministry has announced that all music with tempos above 116 BPM and below 80 BPM will be banned. The aim of the ban is to promote traditional music in the region and prevent Western music, including fast dance music, from being played in Chechnya. Chechen Youth Minister Musa Dadayev said the decision was final and that vocal and musical compositions that do not comply with the tempo limit must be rewritten by June 1.
Dadayev said all works of music, vocal and choreographic performances should correspond to between 80 and 116 beats per minute. He added that the introduction of the ban was supported by the leader of the Chechen Republic administration, Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov. Chechnya’s culture ministry reportedly argued that fast dance music “polluted” Chechnya and that borrowing musical cultures from other people was unacceptable.
The new law will reportedly require artists in the region to adapt their music to the new rule by 1 June. The decision has drawn criticism on social media and elsewhere, with some people likening the restrictions to censorship. Several Western dance music genres, such as house music, techno, electro, drum’n’bass and dubstep, are typically played at more than 116 BPM.
The Russian republic of Chechnya is in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. The region has been in the news in recent years for reports of violence against LGBTQIA+ people. According to The Moscow Times, Chechnya’s culture ministry aims to bring the cultural heritage of the Chechen people, including all the spectrum of moral and ethical standards, to the people and the future of their children
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