Mo Chaudry: Farewell to Ibiza's force of nature

Like any Pakistani youth growing up in the late 1970s, Mo encountered racism and bigotry on a daily basis which he refused to be defined by or prevent him from immersing himself in the culture which fed his passions; football and punk rock. As one of the few non-white punks, he would hitch hike and bunk trains around the country, following bands like The Clash and Dead Kennedys as they toured the UK.

Forever dreaming and scheming, Mo’s restless energy could be relied on to keep Ibiza on its white sandy toes. His optimism was such that he refused to be talked out of any idea he believed would work. Usually, he was right: who else could get Paul van Dyk to play a pool party at Kanya for free? Or reopen a forgotten basement in San Antonio and have queues around the block? Or take on Cocoon on Monday night, as he did with Onyx at Space last year? Mo was a fearless operator whose will was often the sole reason the clubs he ran survived and grew. Other times his vision was too much – even for Ibiza. He dreamed of establishing an annual extreme sports event (complete with real snow, naturally) to attract a different market to the island in early May. He rented a fairground and planned to create an open-air ‘fan zone’ with huge screens so people could enjoy Euro 2016 beneath the stars. Recently he was involved in planning the Rise Up Ibiza festival to promote world peace and unity and had plans and ideas far too numerous to list here.

He loved to observe how people behaved and greatly enjoyed observing and playing his part in the annual superclub merry-go-round; a crafty corporate clubland chess game which, more often than not, would play out just as he predicted it would. He could read Ibiza like no one else.