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Turkmenistan bans recorded music (Dictatorships in Central Asia)
BBC News ^ | Tuesday, 23 August 2005

Posted on 08/27/2005 4:02:13 PM PDT by F14 Pilot

Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov has banned the playing of recorded music at all public events, on television and at weddings. In a decree, Mr Niyazov said there was a need to protect Turkmen culture from "negative influences".

This is the latest move by the authoritarian president to minimise foreign influence in the isolated former Soviet state, analysts say.

He has already banned opera and ballet, describing them as "unnecessary".

'True culture'

Mr Niyazov's decree was published in the official daily newspaper Neitralny Turkmenistan (Neutral Turkmenistan).

It banned sound recordings "at musical performances on state holidays, in broadcasts by Turkmen television channels, at all cultural events organised by state... in places of mass assembly and at weddings and celebrations organised by the public".

The president was quoted by the newspaper as saying the move aimed to "protect true culture, including the musical and singing traditions of the Turkmen people".

And in comments broadcast on state television, Mr Niyazov told his cabinet:

"Unfortunately, one can see on television old voiceless singers lip-synching their old songs.

"Don't kill talents by using lip-synching... create our new culture."

Personality cult

Mr Niyazov - known as Turkmenbashi, or father of the Turkmen - has ruled the desert state since the Soviet times.

He has created a vast personality cult around himself, issuing decrees regulating behaviour in all walks of life.

In 2001, Mr Niyazov - proclaimed the president for life - called for youths not to get gold tooth caps, also urging a crackdown on young men wearing beards or long hair.

Pictures of the president adorn public buildings and his book - intended as a moral and spiritual guide - is compulsory reading throughout Turkmenistan.

To many, his rule is alarmingly authoritarian, BBC Eurasia editor Catherine Davis says.

People who know him say he appears to believe he was sent by God to lead his nation into what he calls a "Golden Age", our editor says.

Beyond the elaborate building projects in the capital lies an impoverished country, where surveillance is commonplace and any public opposition a rare event, she adds.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: ban; cult; dictatorship; gold; humanrights; idiot; islam; music; niyazov; records; russia; space; taliban; turkmenistan
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Turkmen book 'blasted into space'

U.S. General Discusses Bases With Turkmenistan Leader

1 posted on 08/27/2005 4:02:23 PM PDT by F14 Pilot
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To: Valin; AdmSmith; GermanBusiness; Calpernia; Howlin; nuconvert; sionnsar

ping


2 posted on 08/27/2005 4:04:48 PM PDT by F14 Pilot (Democracy is a process not a product)
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To: F14 Pilot

can we ban rap "music"?


3 posted on 08/27/2005 4:06:42 PM PDT by frankiep
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To: F14 Pilot

Is it baboonery militant or baboonery triumphant? Sometimes it is hard to tell.


4 posted on 08/27/2005 4:07:31 PM PDT by GSlob
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To: F14 Pilot
This guy is great. Imagine a string quartet on the elevator or the doctor's office.
5 posted on 08/27/2005 4:07:37 PM PDT by fat city ("The nation that controls magnetism controls the world.")
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To: F14 Pilot
And now all Turkmenis must wear their underwear
on the outside of their clothers so the inspectors
can check that they are clean!

Hasn't the world had enough of these egotistical
know-it-all maniacs?

6 posted on 08/27/2005 4:09:24 PM PDT by StormEye
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To: fat city

Full employment or musicians at last!


7 posted on 08/27/2005 4:09:25 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: F14 Pilot

Meet the second roneriest man in Asia...


8 posted on 08/27/2005 4:11:32 PM PDT by WestVirginiaRebel (Idiots and the Internet don't mix, no matter how hard Michael Moore tries.)
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To: WestVirginiaRebel

this guy is a dictator


9 posted on 08/27/2005 4:13:24 PM PDT by F14 Pilot (Democracy is a process not a product)
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To: tet68
The musicians' union must be making big donations to his "campaign".
10 posted on 08/27/2005 4:27:48 PM PDT by fat city ("The nation that controls magnetism controls the world.")
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To: frankiep
can we ban rap "music"?

I sure wish we could.

It should be classified under "noise pollution," not music. It doesn't even have melody. All it has is rhythm, talking, screaming, shouting and cursing. It requires ABSOLUTELY no talent.
Horrible noise. Kids love it. THAT should tell ya how terrible it is. They admire talentless people. They LOVE only the screaming, shouting and cursing because it's what they really want to do.
NOW with rap-crap, their screaming, shouting and cursing has rhythm and is called "art" and "music."

What a slap in the face to Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, Puccini, Verdi, Tchaikovsy, Bach, Handel and other producers of MUSIC.

11 posted on 08/27/2005 4:32:32 PM PDT by starfish923
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To: F14 Pilot

And thus ends the grand Turkmenistan musical tradition of "sampling".


12 posted on 08/27/2005 4:32:49 PM PDT by fat city ("The nation that controls magnetism controls the world.")
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To: tet68
The whole point is, of course, employment of musicians. Turkmenistan joins a long list of American cities and towns that have enacted the exact same rules regarding music played in public~!!!

They are doing everything they can to become more like us.

13 posted on 08/27/2005 4:42:41 PM PDT by muawiyah (/ hey coach do I gotta' put in that "/sarcasm " thing again?)
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To: F14 Pilot
Photo of 'Turkmenbashi' who remains back in the USSR.

He has already banned opera and ballet, describing them as "unnecessary".

Time for some exercise & reality for this schlub.

14 posted on 08/27/2005 4:49:11 PM PDT by M. Espinola (Freedom is never free)
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To: F14 Pilot

"this guy is a dictator"

It goes beyond your run of the mill dictator. If I recall correctly, he has decreed a new calendar which includes two new months, one for himself and the other for his mother.


15 posted on 08/27/2005 4:57:30 PM PDT by Stirner
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To: F14 Pilot

16 posted on 08/27/2005 5:01:40 PM PDT by UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide (Give Them Liberty Or Give Them Death! - IT'S ISLAM, STUPID! - Islam Delenda Est! - Rumble thee forth)
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To: F14 Pilot
In a decree, Mr Niyazov said there was a need to protect Turkmen culture from "negative influences".

Hmmmmm... Sounds a lot like Canada, doesn't it?

17 posted on 08/27/2005 5:08:41 PM PDT by The Electrician ("Government is the only enterprise in the world which expands in size when its failures increase.")
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To: F14 Pilot

This is one of the "stans" I never really noticed. Looking it up on a map, I see it is bordered by Iran, Afghanistan, Khazakstan, and Uzbekhistan. It is also mostly Muslim.

I had a friend just adopt some kids from Khazakstan, she said it is the most backwards place with no commodities for the people. Even their clothes and shoes fall apart.


18 posted on 08/27/2005 5:14:14 PM PDT by I still care (America is not the problem - it is the solution..)
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To: F14 Pilot
bans recorded music

Well, that's one way to deal with the RIAA.


19 posted on 08/27/2005 5:18:56 PM PDT by Nick Danger (www.vvlf.org)
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To: starfish923
It requires ABSOLUTELY no talent.

I'm not a rap fan, but I have come to the conclusion that the above statement is not true. There are rap artists with a lot of talent, but it is talent with words not music. Especially impressive are those who do "freestyle" rap, in which they must come up with witty responses to others on the spur of the moment. Those who excel at this are showing a lot of mental agility.

20 posted on 08/27/2005 5:28:43 PM PDT by wideminded
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