On November 8th, French students from VHHS rode a school bus down winding roads in the Highland Park neighborhood of Birmingham. Accompanied by the high school’s French teachers Mme. Harlan and Mme. Dupre, the students could barely contain their excitement for the once-in-a lifetime opportunity ahead of them: a concert in French by a celebrated French musician.
Unlike most field trips to museums or laboratories, this trip engaged students by doing, not just seeing. This concert, held at the Altamont School, encouraged students from VHHS and the several schools from the Birmingham area to sing along for most songs. For a fan favorite song about crocodiles, Mme. Harlan brought children’s crocodile masks for every student on the trip. Event organizers went so far as to applaud VHHS for these dedicated outfits, shortly before they were upstaged by the thrill of excited high schoolers tossing an inflatable crocodile.
After the concert, fans were able to get selfies and signatures from the musician who only moments ago seemed a world away. This man’s name is Eric Vincent, a globetrotting singer-songwriter with a decades long career and widespread acclaim. Though the fanfare he met at the signing was the same as always, the mood was different. That’s because it was his final tour, after which he will never again grace that time-honored stage in Altamont’s auditorium.
But before explaining the significance of his final tour, it’s important to analyze his past. Vincent was born in 1946, amid the post-war reconstruction of France. Growing up in Northern France, Vincent started not just playing the banjo and violin, but excelling at those instruments, all before the age of ten. As a teenager, Vincent picked up guitar, growing to love Rock and later Jazz, which he fell in love with. Then as a young adult, Vincent joined a Jazz group, which he soon left to become a solo act. He went on to sign with a major French label, opening for well-known French artists such as Charles Aznavour and Johnny Hallyday before releasing an album.
After an initial tour in several island nations in the Indian Ocean, Vincent began touring internationally. He expanded his tours to four other continents and continued to write socially-minded songs, including songs like “There are no more Crocodiles in Cocody.” No matter what continent he toured in, Vincent grew the size and dedication of his fanbase with his energetic personality and his experimental style, blending jazz, rock, and other genres into a cohesive whole.
Though Vincent's final tour means the end of his decades spent sharing peace and culture through music around the world, he will leave a legacy of global community-building behind. Perhaps this was the true lesson learned from the French field trip.
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