Musicians defend the use of brazilwood to make violin and cello bows

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Musicians and musical instrument manufacturers from all over the world followed with apprehension the debates at this year’s Cites meeting (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), which ended on November 25 in Panama.

At stake was the fate of the brazilwood (Paubrasilia echinata), an endangered tree whose wood is considered indispensable for the manufacture of professional bows for instruments such as violins and cellos.

There was a proposal to place the species in the most restrictive category of Cites, which would prohibit any form of commercial transaction involving specimens obtained in nature. Negotiations involving Brazil, the European Union and the US prevented this reclassification.

The main challenge, however, comes now: finding ways to recover the different populations of brazilwood in the Atlantic Forest and, at the same time, to commercially produce its wood, highly valued by the great orchestras of the planet.

Cites compiles a series of lists of species, called appendices, approved by signatory countries to the convention. The appendices involve different restrictions on trade in animals and plants and products derived from them.

At the 2022 meeting in Panama, designated as the 19th COP (Conference of the Parties) of the treaty, the Brazilian government, through Ibama, had originally proposed that brazilwood be removed from Appendix 2 (intermediate protection category) to Appendix 1 (the strictest).

Today, Appendix 1 lists species such as the red panda, the Asian elephant and a species of araucaria that occurs in Chile and Argentina.

“If this were approved, an orchestra musician would not be able to travel internationally carrying a brazilwood bow”, says Daniel Neves, president of Anafima (National Association of the Music Industry).

“The luthiers [artesãos que fabricam e consertam instrumentos de corda] would have trouble reforming an instrument. It would be extremely complicated.”

The wood of pau-brasil gives unique mechanical characteristics to the bow used to play stringed instruments, according to Neves, especially with regard to the vibration of the instrument.

“Ipe wood comes close in some respects, but not nearly enough. All musicians say it is beyond comparison—the redwood bow is a precision instrument.”

According to luthier André Amaral, the good elasticity provided by brazilwood wood is one of the keys to its special status for musicians.

“There is also the question of density, which depends on the type of instrument”, he explains. “A denser wood is intended for cello bows, while less dense wood is preferred for making violins and violas.”

Amaral also explains that techniques used to measure the elasticity of wooden bridges were adapted to measure the quality of the instruments’ rods. Synthetic substitutes are generally only used in amateur musical instruments.

According to Haroldo de Lima, a retired researcher at the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, in the 1980s many believed that the tree was practically extinct in the country. Surveys carried out along the Brazilian coast, however, revealed that there were still several natural populations of the species in Northeastern states and in Rio de Janeiro.

The researchers also discovered that there are five genetically distinct populations of pau-brasil, with different characteristics of the leaves and which may actually represent more than one species.

“We discovered that the populations occurred in restricted places because they needed very special climatic and soil conditions, but, in these areas, the trees were relatively abundant, with many individuals”, he says.

Even so, the situation was worrying, which led to the initial inclusion of brazilwood in Appendix 2 of Cites.

Initiatives for the production of seedlings of the species also began to be strengthened by producers of bows, or archetários, as they are called. There are projects of this type in Pernambuco, Bahia and Espírito Santo.

“It was clear to them that if something wasn’t done, the species would disappear”, says Lima. “In fact, archetários are the only ones who are planting today — not all of them, but many of them do a serious job”, analyzes the Botanical Garden researcher.

According to Neves, from Anafima, around 500,000 seedlings have been planted since 2000. It is a long-term investment, as the wood only reaches the appropriate quality for use in musical instruments after several decades of tree growth.

He argues that, as two cubic meters of wood are enough for the entire Brazilian annual production of bows, it will still be possible to supply the market with old stocks, as well as through other sources, such as demolition wood.

“In the current situation, changing the classification of brazilwood from Appendix 2 to Appendix 1 would make little difference because unfortunately the country has not done its homework”, analyzes Haroldo de Lima.

For him, in addition to better mapping wood stocks and protecting natural populations, there is a lack of investment in research to find out whether it is possible to propose selective cutting in a sustainable way, as is done with other trees.

“It’s no use making pyrotechnic seizures of wood, as sometimes happens, without doing all that”, he says.

The decision approved at the Panama COP, after debates in a working group, establishes that the arches finished in Brazil can only be exported for the first time through a permit issued by Cites (the decision does not apply to “re-exports”, i.e. , to bows manufactured in Brazil, sold to another country and, after that, exported again to a new destination).

Cites signatory countries and music industry groups have also committed to more detailed mapping of legal timber stocks, creating systems to track legally produced instruments, and supporting efforts to conserve the species and sustainable commercial production. of brazilwood.

In an official communiqué, Ibama stated that the permanence of brazilwood in Appendix 2 was compensated “with a more detailed and restrictive annotation that allows to ensure the control of the trade of pieces already produced and the fight against trafficking and illegal extraction”.

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