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full screenDancers during the celebration of leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s re-election in Chechnya’s capital Grozny in 2021. The election was condemned by large parts of the outside world. Photo: Musa Sadulayev/AP/TT
Music considered either too fast or too slow is banned in Chechnya.
The measure is said to be an attempt to crush “plaguing” Western influence in the conservative Russian republic.
According to Culture Minister Musa Dadajev, starting June 1, all music, song and choreography in Chechnya must have a tempo of 80 to 116 beats per minute.
In practice, this means that most of the kind of music that is played in clubs around the world is now criminalized, writes The Guardian.
According to regime-loyal Russian Tass, the music in the sub-republic will henceforth correspond to “the Chechen mentality and sense of rhythm”.
– Borrowing musical culture from other peoples is not allowed, says Musa Dadajev.
Local artists now have just under two months to rewrite any music that doesn’t comply with the new rules.
Chechnya, located in the Caucasus north of Georgia, has been ruled since 2007 with an iron fist by the eccentric and hard-line Ramzan Kadyrov. Under his rule, Chechnya has been Islamized and human rights have largely been neglected.
The Moscow-loyal Kadyrov – sometimes called “Putin’s attack dog” – has, among other things, banned alcohol and ordered women to wear veils in public buildings. Not least, he has been accused of brutal persecution of homosexuals.
FACT Total control
Ramzan Kadyrov was born in 1976 with roots in one of Chechnya’s oldest and most respected clans. Led a militia, the “Kadyrovites”, which consisted mostly of ex-rebels and became known for great brutality. Then switched sides and became friendly with the Kremlin.
In 2007, Moscow appointed Ramzan Kadyrov as leader of the Russian sub-republic of Chechnya. Since then, the president has relentlessly cracked down on all forms of dissent. The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) describes Kadyrov’s rule as tyranny where the president has total control over the flow of information.
People who try to protest are punished according to HRW with reprisals such as extrajudicial detention, disappearances, harsh treatment, death threats and threats against family members.
Source: Foreign Policy Institute, Human Rights Watch
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