African Blackwood
Sustainable forest conservation is underway in the African country of Tanzania. There, we work with local villagers to ensure that the precious trees used to make clarinets and oboes remain with us in future.
African Blackwood
Scientific name: Dalbergia melanoxylon
These trees are widely distributed throughout southern sub-Saharan Africa, primarily in Tanzania, Mozambique, Senegal, Nigeria, and Kenya. In the main lumber production areas of southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique, they are distributed throughout seasonally dry tropical forests generally known as Miombo woodlands, which are representative of Africa. African Blackwood is also the national tree of Tanzania and stands as a symbol of the country. It is recognized as possessing the highest value of any of the many tree species native to the region. The heartwood is especially hard, with an air-dried density of 1.2 to 1.3 g/cm3, and there was even a time when it was referred to as Ebony. As music developed in the 1800s, this wood began to find use in the tubular bodies of woodwind instruments. Due to its acoustic properties and distinctive appearance, it has become an indispensable part of modern woodwind instrument manufacturing under the popular name Grenadilla.
IUCN Red List Near Threatened
CITES Appendix II Listed Species
Project Summary
This project promotes resource conservation through participatory forest management in collaboration with a local NGO (Mpingo Conservation & Development Initiative) in Tanzania, to make African Blackwood a sustainable resource that can be used continuously. In the Kilwa District of Lindi Region in southern Tanzania, a major African blackwood harvesting area, we are working with local NGOs to promote the introduction and development of planting techniques for encouraging regeneration of African blackwood, as well as conducting basic research on cultivating the most suitable wood for musical instruments in the forests of participating local villages (community forests). Moreover, we have focused on unused materials that had hitherto been left over when procuring suitable materials for musical instruments, working to make efficient use of the trees we grow and to ensure that local people can benefit more from each tree. We are leveraging innovative technology developed by Yamaha to utilize materials previously thought to be unusable due to the presence of defects such as cracks or knots, putting them to use in woodwind instruments and other musical instruments as materials that take advantage of the original characteristics of wood.
The project began in 2015. At the time, African Blackwood was just one of the wooden materials procured by musical instrument manufacturers. Now it is more than a material for musical instruments; African Blackwood will remain a valuable resource that brings long-term benefits over the next century to the rural villages of Tanzania, where it originated.
Forest surveys conducted with local people
World Heritage site Kilwa Kisiwani island (Kilwa District, Lindi Region, Tanzania)
