Taylor Swift's hit song "Shake It Off" is rarely mentioned in the same breath as the Russian national anthem, but both have fallen afoul of a new ruling on music in Chechnya. The Russian republic has announced a ban on music the regime considers too fast or slow, ruling that all songs and compositions should "correspond to a tempo of 80 to 116 beats per minute," said Sky News.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov told Culture Minister Musa Dadayev to make the country's music "conform to the Chechen mentality," said The Moscow Times. Announcing the ban, Dadayev said "Chechen musical culture has always been diverse in tempo and methodology. We must pass on our cultural heritage to our children: the customs, traditions, our adats (traditional laws), nokhchalla (code of honor) – features of the Chechen character, which includes the entire spectrum of moral and ethical standards of life of the Chechens."
Artists have been given until June 1 to rewrite any material that doesn't meet the criteria, and if their music isn't reworked, they won't be allowed to perform it in public. The new tempo is "relatively slow" compared to a lot of modern pop music, said Sky News. It would "rule out a number of Western genres from being played publicly in the conservative Islamic society."
But "embarrassingly for Kadyrov," who is a "slavish supporter" of Vladimir Putin, the Russian national anthem also flouts the new rule, said The Times. The hymn, a "solemn ode to the motherland composed during the Soviet era," is only 76 beats per minute. | 
