How Europe saved the French bow in pernambuco


When Macron and Brussels save the marketing of pernambuco, this rare and exotic tree at the base of the best bows in the world…




By Emmanuel Berretta

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VS’is a diplomatic battle waged with bows or, rather, speckled foils: the marketing of pernambuco, this tree which grows only in Brazil, was saved by the European Union. For the greatest relief of violin makers and artists playing pernambuco bows, the 19e CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) has ratified, by consensus, that this species of wood, also called Paubrasilia echinata, will remain marketable and can circulate internationally.

Bolsonaro’s Brazil wanted, for good reasons, to increase the degree of protection of pernambuco by classifying this species in Appendix I of the Species Convention, which prohibits all exploitation and circulation abroad. The species is threatened with extinction and is the subject of illegal trafficking. Two strong arguments which first convinced France and the European Union to support Brazil. A disaster announced for French luthiers, considered among the best in the world in bow making.

French craftsmanship of excellence

Not to mention the hassle for violinists, violists, cellists and double bassists… Musicians with such archers would have had to declare their pernambuco bows each time they crossed borders. Problem: the traceability of the bows is very faulty. Not everyone can prove the provenance of their bows. This ban would have had another consequence: the scarcity of pernambuco bows and, consequently, the increase in their value. Pernambuco bows are the best since the 18th centurye century. France excels in this little-known sector. Of course, carbon can very well deceive, but we would be losing a tradition…

Believing to do well, Emmanuel Macron was going to sacrifice a craftsmanship of excellence. The European Union was also aligned with the superior protection advocated by Brazil. If the luthier profession had not mobilized, we would have stopped there. The profession had to knock on the right doors. Edwin Clément, best worker in France, was able to find the right person in Brussels: Philippe Léglise-Costa, the French ambassador to the institutions. Better informed, President Macron changed his position 180 degrees. France worked on the body of the European Commission, and it was not so simple. Finally, the European Union mobilized in favor of bow makers and the musical world in view of the Cites which was held in Panama from 14 to 25 November.

A godsend: the defeat of Bolsonaro

As long as Jair Bolsonaro was president of Brazil, the mandate of his negotiator was very strict. Luckily, on October 30, Lula defeated Bolsonaro. The Brazilian negotiator is finding margins. Its main subject is the control of illegal trade. He gets the bows finished in Brazil to be checked and there will be funding to cooperate in the fight against the illegal traffic of pernambuco. “It sounds crazy, but 80% of the discussions have revolved around this point”, comments Fanny Reyre Ménard, luthier and vice-president of the Chambre Syndicale de la Fabre Instrumentale (CSFI).

Another very important point: the replanting of pernambuco. In fact, the species has already been the subject of several replanting programs in Brazil for 20 years, but it is not officially approved as such by the ministry in charge of preservation. Brazil replants without knowing it!

READ ALSOPresidential in Brazil: trip to a fractured country

The traceability of bows to be improved

Twenty years ago, the IPCI (International Pernambuco Conservation Initiative), a non-profit organization, began this process and 300,000 tree seedlings have been replanted since 2002, half for botanical preservation and half for the another for the use of future bow makers. A single pernambuco is enough for the career of a bow maker…

The profession has three years to resolve the issue of traceability of Pernambuco bows. “What is satisfying is that no one comes out humiliated from this negotiation which ends with the European position,” stresses Fanny Reyre Ménard. Brazil is very satisfied and we are relieved, luthiers as well as artists. »




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