Director of Chechen Philharmonic Society voices out threats to amateur singers

Only cultural workers have the right to sing and act as performers, while the creativity of amateur singers will be suppressed, Dina Shagidaeva, the director of the Grozny State Philharmonic Society, has stated. In their turn, residents of Chechnya have objected by stating that singing songs is a way of self-expression.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in Chechnya, amateur artists were repeatedly criticized. Thus, on September 8, 2019, it became known about the detention of amateur artists Ayub and Askhab Vakharagov for violating the ban on the performance of songs not approved by the Chechen authorities. In July 2020, Ramzan Kadyrov stated that without the approval of the special commission that checks the words of Chechen songs, singers in the republic are not allowed to perform at celebrations.

On the Instagram, Ms Shagidaeva has condemned the social media users who post videos or broadcast live the footages in which they sing. "Nobody forbids a person to self-express and develop one's talent in compliance with the rules of decency. However, if you claim to a large audience that you are an artist of the Philharmonic Society, not being one, this is already a lie," she wrote.

She clarified that she was talking about cases when girls introduced themselves as artists of the Philharmonic Society, and then broadcast live at night, by maintaining obscene conversations.

"The only thing left to do is to sing in the bathroom," the user textil___grozny has noted sarcastically. "If people want singing, let them sing, who can forbid them? What a nonsense!" the user i.am.fatima.mansur has noted.