Post by Mohammed Marikar
We had walked right into the 80s rock scene, and they were all there – Bob Geldof, Tony James (Generation X & Sigue Sigue Sputnik) and Richard Strange (Doctors of Madness) to mention just a few.
The guests who were squeezing into the basement of Momo’s in London last Thursday would’ve quickly realised that this was a book launch like no other. The clue was of course in the title; Kristiane Backer’s autobiography From MTV to Mecca was no ordinary journey (“from babe to burka!” as Bob Geldof joked) and had no ordinary characters.
Many had taken a different path since – Allegra Mostyn-Owen, who once graced the cover of Tatler, now teaches disadvantaged pupils in East London. Peter Sanders, once one of London’s key photographers of rock musicians, is now one of the Muslim world’s most acclaimed photographers.
Also in the room was director James Dearden who was screenwriter for Fatal Attraction, and the Marquess of Worcester, heir to the Duke of Beaufort and the 52,000-acre Badminton Estate.
Kristiane told us about the person who first introduced her to a different path, Imran Khan, the former international cricketer now running for president of Pakistan. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but this part of the story is a must read – Imran was a gentle introduction to the difference in attitudes between ‘East and West’. If you had it, you didn’t need to Flaunt It (for the uninitiated, Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s first album).
From the Muslim world we had Sharif Hasan al-Banna, CEO of the Muslim world’s biggest record label, Awakening – which is also a co-publisher of From MTV to Mecca; there was Ovideo Salazar, director of Roads to Mecca; BBC newsreader Asad Ahmad; and Sarah Joseph, editor and CEO of the glossy Muslim lifestyle magazine emel. Entertaining us for the evening was Aziz Ibrahim (Stone Roses guitarist post-Squire).
It was testament to Kristiane’s unique ability to bring people from different walks of life together, and to her courage to stay the course despite all that was thrown in her way. It also showed us all that while we may think we’re worlds apart, we’re not too different after all.
