Turkmenistan's dictator -- the totalitarian rockist!

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".

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."

Admittedly some of us are thinking the opera and ballet interdictions are in fact good and noble efforts, but we are biased.