Uzbekistan Bans Meaningless Songs That "Don't Praise The Motherland"

If you think our government has too much control over our lives, check this out:

In a statement on its website, Uzbekistan's Culture and Sports Ministry has announced a ban on "meaningless" songs that fail to "praise the motherland."

In a rather insensitively worded ruling, the music of pop groups Mango and Ummon and singers Dilfuza Rahimova, Otabek Mutalhojaev, and Dilshod Rakhmonov were condemned as being "meaningless from musical and lyrical standpoints." (Ouch!)

They were stripped of their performing licenses, which are issued by an agency within the ministry, Uzbeknavo, and which are needed in order to perform in public in Uzbekistan.

Says the ministry:

"Their songs do not conform to our nation’s cultural traditions, they contradict our moral heritage and mentality. We should not forget about our duty to praise our motherland, our people, and their happiness.”

Seven other performers were issued "harsh warnings" and given a deadline of July 1 to eliminate what the ministry euphemistically calls their "creative shortcomings."

Of course, the daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov- Gulnara Karimova (aka Googoosha)- is not subject to that ban.  Here's her latest music video- "How Dare", which definitely does not comply with the nation's cultural traditions, whatever those happen to be. Note that the clothing and jewelry are Gulnara's designs. The jack-of-all-trades also happens to be an economist and diplomat.

Gerard Depardieu's Azerbaijan Commercial and Music Video With Hated Ukbez Gulnara Karimova

Gerard Depardieu, the former French-turned-Russian actor- who decided to leave France because of the exorbitant tax situation there- had initially planned on moving to Belgium. But when he was invited to move to Russia by Vladimir Putin with an offer of a passport, and an apartment in Grozny, Chechnya courtesy of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, off he went to embrace his inner Cossack. Chechnya?! No thank you, but he's settling nicely into the Caucasus, and even seems to have expanded his acting opportunities; although to be fair, those deals were bandied about a year or so prior to his change in citizenship.

You can see Gerard hawking the cuisine of Azerbaijan in the following video:



In 2011 he starred in an Armenian Armavia airlines commercial.

And this past January, he co-starred in a music video with diplomat/singer/jack-of-all-trades Gulnara Karimova- the 40-year-old eldest daughter of Uzbekistan's dictator president Islam Karimov. She holds the dubious honor of being the most loathed person in her country, at least according to leaked WikiLeak cables. As a singer she goes by the name Googoosha.

An interesting side note, Gerard's Grozny apartment complex went up in flames, when a skyscraper caught fire.


Source: RFE/RL