Bow makers and musicians worried about the threat of a ban on the trade in pernambuco, the wood of bows

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“We don’t want to be the last of the Mohicans” : bow makers have been on a roll since Brazil sought to ban the marketing of pernambuco, an essential wood for making bows. A proposal could be validated on November 25 at the CITES meeting (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) in Panama.

At the origin of this initiative, the government of Jair Bolsonaro – himself accused of having favored exploitation to the detriment of the forest: he denounces the “illegal traffic” Paubrasilia echinata, or pernambuco, which is found only in the northeast of Brazil, especially in the Atlantic forest. He asks that this species, which gave its name to the country, move from Appendix II (which already imposes strong restrictions) to Appendix I of the Cites regulations, de facto preventing any resupply of pernambuco.

In his Parisian workshop, Edwin Clément, a renowned bow maker for 30 years, still cannot believe it. “It’s lunar! The 100 bow makers in France only consume one pernambuco tree per year”he argues while planing this wood before heating the rod. “In addition, the IPCI (International Pernambuco Conservation Initiative), an initiative of French bow makers who have been working with the Brazilian administrations since 2001 for the preservation and sustainable use of the species, is behind the replanting” about 250,000 trees, he explains.

“This wood is at the origin of the modern bow. If we replace it, we will no longer play the violin as we have been playing it for 250 years”

Because, according to bow makers and musicians, nothing beats the resistance, density and elasticity of this wood which allows stringed instruments to project a unique sound.

“Many experiments to replace it have failed”hammers Edwin Clement. “Carbon fiber bows are not an option, it’s polluting!” A ban on pernambuco will impact all of musical life. Each bow maker must have authorization to hold a stock of pernambuco, put his bow on the market, export it. And any luthier will have to do the same if he wants to test a bow on the instrument he makes. Not to mention the administrative headache for orchestras and musicians on tour, each bow needing a passport and a validated passage through customs.

“Let’s not make the musical world a scapegoat for deforestation”launched Tuesday, November 8 nearly 200 international figures of classical music, including French musicians Renaud and Gautier Capuçon or cellist Yo-Yo Ma, in a column published by the daily The world (subscribers only).

Emphasizing that their sector is “very vigilant on these issues for several decades”they insist that “volumes of wood, European and exotic” used in music “are particularly modest”.

The Chambre Syndicale de la Facture Instrumentale (CSFI) has warned against the “execution” bow making, a jewel of French craftsmanship. “In 5 years, 40% of bow makers will have closed the curtain, no young person will want to do this job”, warns Edwin Clément. A petition on Change.org has reached nearly 16,000 signatories. What worries the community even more is the possible endorsement of France and the European Union, which must give its opinion on November 11. In a press release, the CSFI appealed to President Emmanuel Macron and his Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.

AFP unsuccessfully contacted Cites, the State Secretariat for Ecological Transition and the Ministry of Culture. “There is a problem of deforestation in Brazil but it is not the bow makers who are responsible for it; they are actors of conservation”assures Fanny Reyre-Ménard, luthier in charge of the file within the CSFI.


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