Belarus limits foreign music

Europe’s ”last” dictator Aleksandr Lukasjenko has ordered that FM radio stations in Belarus, Europe’s most repressive state, from now on can only play 20 pct. foreign music.

Lukasjenko thus join policy hands with Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who’s government in 2001 enacted a law that made it compulsory for DJ’s and presenters to allocate a staggering 75 pct. of all programming to music from Zimbabwe.

Last year Lukasjenko’s government banned many of Belarus's most popular bands for performing at a concert last year to protest against Mr Lukashenko's 10-year rule.

The bands - Palac, Drum Ecstasy, Neuro Dubel, N.R.M., ZET, Pomidor/OFF and Zmicier Vajciuskievic - say their music has not been on the radio since, and concerts and media interviews have been cancelled.

The new regulation on foreign music - although supposed to stimulate local music production – actually make listeners flee the airwaves and thus puts many radio stations in a difficult financial situation.

The daily Gazeta quotes people saying that many stations face bankruptcy since they will all have to play the same music and lose listeners, or lose their licences.