Mo Chaudry: Farewell to Ibiza's force of nature

The influence of Buddha’s teachings was evident to anyone who spent time with Mo. His calm and his quest for enlightenment, peace and truth were a refreshing contrast to the increasingly materialistic side of Ibiza and dog-eat-dog modus operandi employed by many in positions of power and influence. Who knows what he would have gone on to achieve had his life not been so cruelly curtailed at the age of only 53?

Mo’s legacy lives on across the world’s dance floors, through the music of the DJs’ he’s helped and in his beautiful twin girls, Kizzy and Leelou, who he was utterly devoted to. Their ‘life education’ involved meeting as many different people as Mo could introduce them to; from famous DJs to cave-dwelling hermits and, of course, visiting his beloved Anfield. In December he took them to Pakistan to immerse them in their cultural heritage, prior to travelling to one of his favourite places, Hikkaduwa in Sri Lanka. While swimming, he was carried by a freak wave onto rocks and only briefly regained consciousness before passing away some hours later in hospital.

A few days before he was taken, Mo and the girls trekked to a holy mountain, Sri Pada, the only one in the world which is considered holy by Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Muslims. Reaching the summit before dawn, they viewed the grand phenomenon known as the 'ira-sevaya' (the splendour of the rising sun) puncturing the eastern horizon, casting a shadow of the mountain on to the valley behind, like a pyramid. That shadow now falls across Ibiza.

Father, friend, fire-starter. Rest in peace.