Chechnya Bans Pop Music Based On Beats Per Minute

Politico Europe reports:

Chechnya, we have bad blood. The culture ministry of the Russian republic recently announced it is banning any songs that are too up-tempo — or down-tempo — in a bid to conform with the country’s musical traditions and root out any hint of Westernization. “From now on all musical, vocal and choreographic works should correspond to a tempo of 80 to 116 beats per minute,” the ministry said in a statement last week.

“Borrowing musical culture from other peoples is inadmissible,” Chechen Culture Minister Musa Dadayev declared. (Though apparently borrowing policies from the plot of Footloose, which tells the story of a fight against culture crackdown in small-town United States, is A-OK.) Say goodbye to techno/trance songs and to mambo, salsa and waltz music, all too fast under the new ban.

Read the full article.

The move has the backing of Chechen leader and Putin foot soldier Ramzan Kadyrov [photo], who is best known here for his regular vows to execute gay men.

All music under 80 BPM and over 116 BPM has been banned in the Russian republic of Chechnya, meaning most styles of hard dance music will be prohibitedhttps://t.co/rk9yzlWOPn

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