Key Points
- Chechnya is reportedly enforing all music to be between between 80 and 116 beats per minute.
- Traditional music will have to be rewritten if it doesn't comply.
- The Chechen cultural minister reportedly wants music to be in line with cultural norms.
Fans of fast music in Chechnya will be disappointed that songs over 116 beats per minute (BPM) have been banned, as have songs slower than 80 BPM, according to The Moscow Times.
The English-language publication reports that authorities wanted limits on tempo for new songs in accordance with "cultural norms" in the Muslim-majority Russian republic.
"From now on all musical, vocal and choreographic works should correspond to a tempo of 80 to 116 beats per minute,” Chechnya’s Culture Ministry said in a statement.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov had instructed the ministry to make Chechen music "conform to the Chechen mentality", according to the statement.
Cultural minister Musa Dadayev said "borrowing musical culture from other peoples is inadmissible".
It's unclear what that means for non-Chechen music that's already been recorded and whether people can continue listening it.
Local artists will be given until 1 June to rewrite and rerecord non-complying songs and will no longer be permitted to perform any that don't follow the rules.
Many pop songs fall between about 100 and 140 BPM, while some electronic genres regularly push 170 BPM.
Chechnya was ravaged by two separatist wars in the 1990s and early 2000s, but is not recognised internationally as a sovereign state and remains a republic of Russia, ruled by Kadyrov since 2007.
Rights groups and Western governments allege that the authorities in Chechnya repress their political opponents, discriminate against women and persecute sexual minorities, all allegations that Chechnya's leaders deny.
