Lip synching banned

Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 20:04

Saparmurat Niyazov, the president of Turkmenistan, has banned lip synching.

Anther source describes the situation like this:

Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov has signed a decree banning the use of “phonograms at all cultural events, song-musical performances organized in honor of state holidays, in the programs of TV channels of the General directorate of the Turkmen television, as well as at all cultural events organized in the state and public organizations, in places of mass gatherings of people, during wedding parties and festivities.”

In one of the world’s most closed Stalinist states, Turkmenbashi, as he likes to be known, rules by whim.

He’s renamed the months, banned opera and ballet. More worryingly, in March he shut all the hospitals outside the capital of his vast country.

Entry Filed under: Miscellanea