Chechnya, a republic of Russia, just made an interesting legal move in terms of music: As NPR reports, Chechnya just announced a ban on music that is not within a certain tempo range. Artists will reportedly have until June 1 to re-write music that’s not in line with the new rule. It’s not currently clear how the new rules will be enforced.
The Chechen Ministry Of Culture announced the ban last week, by the order of Culture Minister Musa Dadayev and with the agreement of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
Dadayev said that “musical, vocal and choreographic” works must be 80 to 116 beats per minute in order to “conform to the Chechen mentality and sense of rhythm.”
Dadayev also said, “Borrowing musical culture from other peoples is inadmissible. 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.”
As NPR notes, songs that don’t fit within the specified BPM range include “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston (68 BPM), “Imagine” by John Lennon (76 BPM), “Hello” by Adele (79 BPM), “Here Comes The Sun” by The Beatles (129 BPM), “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift (170 BPM), “16 Carriages” by Beyoncé (127 BPM), and “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana (117 BPM).
The publication also notes that this ban will have an impact on a number of genres: “Electronic styles of music like house, techno, and dubstep all tend to have BPMs of over 116, says the audio tech company Izotope, while the average tempo of 2020’s best-selling pop songs was 122 BPM, according to the BBC.”
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