The Russian republic of Chechnya has banned dance music it deems either too fast or too slow, in an attempt to quash a “polluting” western influence on the conservative majority-Muslim region.
Musa Dadayev, the culture minister, said “all musical, vocal and choreographic works should correspond to a tempo of 80-116 beats per minute” to make music “conform to the Chechen mentality and sense of rhythm”, according to the Russian news agency Tass.
“Borrowing musical culture from other peoples is inadmissible,” Dadayev said. “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.”
According to reports in Russian media, Dadayev set artists in the region a deadline of 1 June to rewrite any music that does not conform to the rule.
Yeah, I recall there was another country that did something like this back in the 1930s…
This is the charming poster for Hans Ziegler’s Entartete Musik exhibit in 1938, which doesn’t seem to have had a section devoted specifically to jazz but happily used it to promote the show. (Parenthetically, Igor Stravinsky was included until he complained to the Nazi government, which apparently said “whoops, sorry” and restored him to German concert halls.) The Czech writer Josef Skvorecky was a musician during WW2 and recalled this list of instructions being given by a Nazi Gauleiter during the occupation:
1. Pieces in foxtrot rhythm (so-called swing) are not to exceed 20% of the repertoires of light orchestras and dance bands;
2. In this so-called jazz type repertoire, preference is to be given to compositions in a major key and to lyrics expressing joy in life rather than Jewishly gloomy lyrics;
3. As to tempo, preference is also to be given to brisk compositions over slow ones so-called blues); however, the pace must not exceed a certain degree of allegro, commensurate with the Aryan sense of discipline and moderation. On no account will Negroid excesses in tempo (so-called hot jazz) or in solo performances (so-called breaks) be tolerated;
4. So-called jazz compositions may contain at most 10% syncopation; the remainder must consist of a natural legato movement devoid of the hysterical rhythmic reverses characteristic of the barbarian races and conductive to dark instincts alien to the German people (so-called riffs);
5. Strictly prohibited is the use of instruments alien to the German spirit (so-called cowbells, flexatone, brushes, etc.) as well as all mutes which turn the noble sound of wind and brass instruments into a Jewish-Freemasonic yowl (so-called wa-wa, hat, etc.);
6. Also prohibited are so-called drum breaks longer than half a bar in four-quarter beat (except in stylized military marches);
7. The double bass must be played solely with the bow in so-called jazz compositions;
8. Plucking of the strings is prohibited, since it is damaging to the instrument and detrimental to Aryan musicality; if a so-called pizzicato effect is absolutely desirable for the character of the composition, strict care must be taken lest the string be allowed to patter on the sordine, which is henceforth forbidden;
9. Musicians are likewise forbidden to make vocal improvisations (so-called scat);
10. All light orchestras and dance bands are advised to restrict the use of saxophones of all keys and to substitute for them the violin-cello, the viola or possibly a suitable folk instrument.
Apparently they were really concerned about strings not breaking. I don’t know how authentic Skvorecky’s list is or if there’s corroboration for it, but I don’t see much reason for it to have been invented as such, this is the exact sort of precision nonsense you would expect from the Nazis. And the stuff about things being alien to the German spirit, how fast music should be, what sort of rhythms you should use… there’s a resonance of all that in this Chechen thing.
I actually wondered if the story was even remotely true, cos it sounds too silly to be so, but I found it reported by the Moscow Times (an independent paper which claims to be one of Putin’s many enemies) which directed me to what appears to be the Chechen government’s website or some part thereof with a video about it, so I have to assume it is. On the plus side, maybe Chechnya will now find itself home to a new underground of kids who like their music fast…
