In the Russian Republic of Chechnya, authorities have enacted a new ban that polices the speed of music compositions, now making it an offense to record or present compositions that are too fast or too slow.
Per CNN from a report from the Russian state news agency TASS, Chechnya’s Minister of Culture Musa Dadayev has announced that all musical, vocal and choreographic compositions will now be limited to a range of 80 to 116 beats per minute. The decision came during a Friday (April 5) meeting.
“(I) have announced the final decision, agreed with the head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov, that from now on all musical, vocal and choreographic works must correspond to a tempo of 80 to 116 beats per minute,” Dadayev said, according to TASS.
Why Did Chechnya Limit the Speed of Musical Compositions?
Under the new directive, Dadayev stated that all musical creations will now align with “Chechen mentality and musical rhythm.” with the goal of bringing “to the people and to the future of our children the cultural heritage of the Chechen people.”
Further elaborating on the reasoning, Dadayev stated (as translated by The Guardian). “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 for what constitutes traditional Chechen music, a lot of the native instrumentation leans more instrumental with epic ballads getting plenty of attention.
While the report stated that the ban would impact primarily pop and techno songs, it’s easy to see where extreme forms of metal could also be impacted, whether it be the fast-paced, lightning quick guitar work or some of the more darker, doomy and trudging metal styles.
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The Moscow Times reports that artists will have until June 1 to rewrite any new music that doesn’t conform to the rule. However, it has yet to be revealed how the ban will be enforced.
How Much Music Lies Falls Outside the Ban?
It should be noted that in 2020, the BBC published a report that pop music was getting faster in pace. One significant finding is that the average tempo of the best-selling pop songs of 2020 was 122 BPM (beats per minute).
NPR noted that such famous rock songs that would fall out of the BPM range for being too slow or too fast included Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (117 BPM), Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” (71 BPM) and Eagles’ “Hotel California” (147 BPM).
DragonForce, who came to fame on Guitar Hero for the speedy “Through the Fire and Flames,” saw that song clock in at 200 BPM.
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Gallery Credit: Joe DiVita
