On Chechnya banning music considered too slow or too fast
Music bans are usually cultural bans and bans on symbolism, or anarchic forces. This time it's western techno music, but here lies an authoritarian pattern as old as time.
Last week, Chechnya’s cultural ministry banned music it considered too fast or too slow. The target of the attack seems to be Western music, particularly dance music.
"Musical, vocal and choreographic" works will be limited to a tempo of 80 to 116 beats per minute (BPM) to "conform to the Chechen mentality and sense of rhythm," said Dadayev, cultural minister.
This bpm range keeps out most techno, dance music, and most of 2020’s top-earning songs [1]. While music bans are not new, I thought the BPM ban was rather clever. I don’t know much about Chechnya, but I know a viral dance form from there. Chechnyan YouTube is filled with dance videos of the Lezginka. It’s a folk dance that builds up to a ridiculous tempo and is unique to that region. Here’s a sample of the music for the Lezginka.
This song alone is probably closer to the 200bpm range. However, surprise!
this fits the criteria cause the drums are in half-time, so through some mathemagical division this song passes the censor board.
Too fast and too slow
When modern governments and agencies impose controls on music, a medium of peace, it speaks volumes about leaders who fought religious norms and dogma to promulgate and preserve music and culture foreign to them.
Thankfully classical music patrons have a full spectrum of bpms to choose from. Let’s begin with a too-slow song - Ustad Amir Khan’s iconic rendition of O’balma in Raag Jog set to Roopak taal, which takes you on a long soul-searching journey for a good 30 mins.
For the superfast section, I’ll pick a contemporary, Pt Bhimsen Joshi’s first appearance at Harballabh Sangeet Samaroh in 1957 singing Raag Multani at speeds one can only comprehend when played in slow-mo. Imagine going to any music conference and performing this. Bol thaans starting at 3:15 are my favorite.
That’s all for now. Happy Ugadi & Baisakhi to everyone celebrating.
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