Interview with Yung Chin
- Mackenzie Miller
- Sep 23
- 6 min read
Nadya: Hi Yung— thank you so much for being up for this interview!
Yung: Happy to help.
N: Let’s get right into it: when did you become aware of and involved with the IPCI?
Y: Before the IPCI was formed, we [bowmakers] had already started to hear about potential problems with pernambuco in Brazil, but nothing seemed serious and we were not organized at that time. And then a bit later, there was a meeting in France with about twenty five of us, and a gentleman said that pernambuco potentially one day could be on the radar of CITES. So that’s around ’98 or ’99. This was only in the beginning with very few people in the trade involved. IPCI first started in France, followed by IPCI Germany and USA. We have separate organizations, but all work collectively together.
N: Can you talk a little about who was involved at the beginning of the IPCI?
Y: Edwin Clément, Jean-François Raffin, Marco Ciambelli, Arthur DuBroca, myself, Klaus Grünke, Mitsuaki Sasano, and Stéphane Thomachot, and Dave Samuels. The first action we did was before we were any formalized group— there were 10 or 12 of us who put together some money to help a lady drill a well for water for the pernambuco trees in Brazil.
N: How have things evolved since then/ How did things evolve from there?
Y: It was very important for us us to get a reforestation plan going, so we spent two years looking for organizations to partner with in Brazil to support our causes. We started the Programma Pau-Brasil which was a partnership with the CEPLAC (Executive Commission for Cocoa Cultivation Planning). CEPLAC was an organization which worked with about 20,000 Cacao farmers. The ideal was pernambuco trees would provide shade for cacao plants and the program was quite successful. To date, we have been responsible for the planting of over 340,000 pernambuco seedlings.
N: Wow-- that's tremendous! Do musicians seem more aware of this issue now?
Y: Well, I can say this: from the period of roughly 2000-2007, there was almost no participation from musicians- very very few. 2007 was when pernambuco became listed on Appendix II at the CITES gathering in the Hague, there were four or five of us bowmakers who attended that meeting, but there was no one formally representing musicians at the meeting. Even at that time, musicians and musicians’ representatives didn’t seem to understand or be aware of the problem.
CITES itself is very complex— it is a large organization under the umbrella of the United Nations. CITES membership currently has around 185 countries and it oversees over 40,000 species of fauna and flora.
Since ’07, our representation at CITES has evolved, and we now have representation from the entire music sector at these meetings. Besides bowmakers, we have almost all organizations whose members use wood for the manufacturing of instruments, orchestral organizations in the States and in Europe representing almost all orchestras and other musician groups and other ancillary organizations that are associated with the music sector. As pernambuco is currently one of the hot tree species within CITES, we are being represented by a cross section of the whole music sector, not just people from the bow making world. It can make the process of decision making cumbersome because we all have to basically agree on every point, but I feel we are stronger with the input of all those in the music sector!
N: Who would you say are the biggest behind-the-scenes players in lobbying for the music industry?
Y: We have a few key people: Heather Noonan of the League of American Orchestras (she’s in Washington DC and is a very well known lobbyist in charge of the music sector's lobbying for CITES), John Bennett (President of the IPCI-USA) who represents the trade of bow and violin making, and Jacques Carbonneaux of France. There are also a whole lot of other people working behind the scenes whose contributions are not to be overlooked!
N: What can musicians do to prepare for the decision in November?
Y: Well, there are a lot of unknowns that we simply won’t know until the outcome of the November CITES meeting. What musicians can do now is to know their bows better: who made it, when was it made, perhaps if they have receipts of when they bought it, they should keep track of that. They should also understand that crossing international borders with bows right now has for sure gotten more difficult and will probably continue to get more difficult. Governments are trying to keep a manifest of any items made of endangered species going in and out and want to make sure everything is kosher, but the problem is that currently when you go from one country to another, the rules are different. You might need something here in the States, but maybe you go to Australia and it’s not recognized or not necessary. Even within the EU there are countries that have one thought about how to handle things, and the country next door doesn’t care.
We’re trying to get all countries to be harmonized on regulations, and I think going forward that’s going to be one of the most important things for musicians and organizations to follow. The second thing to be aware of is that if IF we get lucky and pernambuco stays on Appendix II, it will still be more restrictive. Management authorities simply do not have enough personnel to accurately administer these policies. We have written up technical papers that explain all of this and have sent them into CITES for them to review.
Here is a link to one of the most recent documents that we have written and submitted to CITES: [Link to this paper HERE]
During the past 25 years, there have been a few of my colleagues and others who have dedicated a large amount of time and effort to do our part to help improve the pernambuco situation worldwide. The situation is very complex and not easily understood. All of us worldwide, whether we be bowmakers, musicians, administrators of large institutions connected with music, NGOs, or governmental agencies need to come together at this critical time to help sustain the noble pernambuco tree and mankind itself. We all need to do our part to help.
Further Reading
Click on logos/photos to be taken to each organization's website
Letter to CITES from Alliance-International
International Pernambuco Conservation Initiative
IPCI USA’s mission is to promote the science-based conservation, replanting and sustainable use of pernambuco, which is so precious in nature and to stringed-instrument music, so that it will flourish for many generations to come.
Alliance International
International Alliance of Violin and Bow Makers for Endangered Species
Hardwood forests around the world are being decimated at an alarming rate. To date, we have supported conservation programs in Brazil, Madagascar and Romania in an effort to reverse this alarming trend that destroys precious hardwoods, impoverishes local communities and endangers the very future of our musical traditions. The Alliance International meets yearly. Project presentations are carefully reviewed for relevance to our mission, scientific strength and ethical standards.
League of American Orchestras
Know Your Bow: Tips for Owners and Users of Pernambuco Bows
(A Guide)
Berliner Philharmoniker
Between Tree and Bow
“Do you know what Pernambuco is? If you do, you either know a lot about the botany of the Brazilian rainforest or you play a stringed instrument. Almost every bow is crafted from Pernambuco. The survival of this unique wood is under threat, placing it at the centre of international conservation policy – with significant consequences for the music world. In this interview, Eva-Maria Tomasi, violinist and member of the orchestra board of the Berliner Philharmoniker, discusses the musical, historical and political importance of a material without which an orchestra would be nearly inconceivable.”
Petition to Keep Pernambuco listed on CITIES Appendix II
"The Brazilian Forum of Opera, Dance and Concert Music, institutions, and professionals in the classical music sector throughout the country express their firm opposition to the proposal to include Pau-Brasil in Appendix I of CITES – Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
We advocate for environmental preservation and all necessary measures to combat the illegal exploitation and trade of Brazilwood. However, elevating the species' classification from Appendix II to Appendix I will have dire and irreversible consequences for the global concert music community, without offering significant additional benefits to the species' protection."
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