“Sur le chemin” – musical performance dedicated to Vassilios Maggos

Entitled “Sur le chemin”, the sound performance by French musician Mathieu Goust is based on an extensive testimony by Yannis Maggos, father of Vassilios Maggos. Vassilios Maggos was arrested in June 2020 after participating in a protest against the operation of the Lafarge factory in Volos, suffered abuse in custody and died a few weeks later.

The performance starts from the path that Yannis created in memory of his son — a path named after Vassilios and connecting the city of Volos with the village of Stagiates.

With the assistance of Dimitris Alexakis (KET) and Solal Goust, Mathieu visited Stagiates in 2023, recorded Yiannis’ testimony midway and collected natural sounds from the environment of the area. Using this audio material as a starting point, he creates a live narrative, combining Yannis’ raw voice, nature sounds and live music with percussion, objects and synthesizers.

Contribution box and judicial development

A contribution box for donations will be on site to cover the legal costs of the family of Vassilios Maggos.

In early 2025, the first trial was completed in three sessions, in which three police officers were convicted in the case and appealed, which is expected to be heard at a later date. Meanwhile, a date is expected to be set for the second trial, which involves felony charges and torture, against six police officers.

About Mathieu Goust:

“From the age of 7, I loved to play percussion.

I started with barrels of detergent, made of cardboard, using wooden spoons… and little by little, my instrumentation was enriched.

Completely self-taught, my musical world was expanded through my travels and meetings. I started playing electronic music around the age of 19, while pursuing drums and percussion.

Today, after over thirty years of practice, I am more interested in the artistic form than the musical style.

That’s why I work in such diverse fields, such as singing, street theatre, circus, literary readings, children’s audiences, jazz, electronic music and dance.”

In recent years, he has regularly collaborated with the singer-songwriter Yoanna, with the women’s group Les Clandestines, with the Mediterranean music ensemble Electrik GEM, with the electro-jazz group Notilus or with the Choreographic Centre of the city of Strasbourg, where he lives.

Photos: Dimitris Alexakis