(read in The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/feb/23/iggy-pop-david-bowie-tribut...)

Carnegie Hall, New York
An array of performers, including FKA twigs, brought together by Philip Glass performed a benefit concert that ranged from the contemplative to the rousing

Iggy Pop: personal incantations. Photograph: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tibet House

Iggy Pop: personal incantations. Photograph: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tibet House

More than 40 years ago, David Bowie penned the most eloquent possible ode to the debauched beauty of Iggy Pop with his song Jean Genie.

On Monday, Iggy got to repay the favor in the most reverent possible setting by performing that classic at this year’s Tibet House all-star concert at Carnegie Hall.

The annual Tibet extravaganza – now in its 26th, 28th or 30th year, depending on when you date its fuzzy origin – always has transcendence on its mind, an ideal vehicle for a Bowie salute. The connection between the late star and the cause runs deep. He performed at two shows in the past, and the event’s stalwart organizer, Philip Glass, has created symphonies based on Bowie’s Low and Heroes, part of which he performed at one such benefit several years ago.

The concert series serves to benefit the cultural center  Tibet House  in New York. But the cause has both spiritual and political ambitions, the latter addressing the plight of the Tibetan people at the hands of the Chinese.

As usual, the tone and construction of the concert was meant to function as a refuge, both from life’s distractions and from musical expectations.

For a shot at the universal, the lineup cut a wide swath, offering standbys (Glass, Gogol Bordello), a taste of today’s avant talent (FKA twigs, Basia Bulat) as well as actual Tibetans (Dechen Shak-Dagsay and a group of chanting local monks). For a savored non sequitur, they threw in the seasoned soul singer Sharon Jones.

To expand things even further, headliner Iggy didn’t just sing, he read two new poems, both of which touched on spiritual issues. The cast of the night also spanned a wide age group (late 20s to late 70s), represented a daunting array of regions (hopping from Africa to Canada to the Ukraine) and touched on a wealth of genres (“new music”, throat singing, R&B, folk, glam-rock).

The night began on the holiest note: with a largely acapella chant by six Tibetan monks. Their mix of low tones and high tones thrived on the intimacy and calm of breathing. Bulat, who followed, performed in a voice as high as the Himalayas, with a tone as clean as the air up there. The Canadian folk singer, who accompanied herself, by turns, on autoharp and guitar, addressed love from two sides. Her aching piece It Can’t Be You deals with the shock of betrayal. Someday Soon reversed the power struggle, letting her be the one who leaves.

Continents away came the sound of Gambian kora master Foday Musa Suso. In his three numbers, Suso connected African folk, jazz fusion, European classical music (aided by harpist Lavinia Meijer) and modern minimalism (via Glass’s added piano arpeggios). In Tamala, Suso’s thumping rhythms gave swing to the kora’s naturally woody texture.

Meijer provided her own link to Glass, performing a solo version of his piece Metamorphis #2, which injected worry into the harp’s angelic tones.

The punching soul of Jones raised the otherwise meditative mood to the rousing, aided by backing from the Patti Smith Band, rather than her usual Daptones. Decked out in a mod dress, Jones provided the ideal look for She Ain’t a Child No More, which has the spy-rock flavor of a song from the Sunset Strip in 1966. In case you missed the connection, the Scorchio String Quartet came in for a cameo, offering a taste of the James Bond Theme.

Shak-Dagsay, a Tibetan by heritage who was raised in Switzerland, elaborated her Himalayan singing with hints of country, folk and even art-rock, once her backing band got into the groove. For a dash of the theatrical, FKA twigs provided clean choreography and costuming in her two songs. She, and her three backing musicians, appeared monk-like in white robes and bare feet. Her lithe moves drew from yoga poses to create a vision as ravishing as her vocals. The band played lightly, leaving lots of room in songs like Good to Love, in the process breaking R&B into a tone poem.

FKA twigs: deep in vogue. Photograph:
Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tibet House

To underscore the political subtext to the event, Gogol Bordello’s songs voiced concerns of the oppressed and the displaced. By contrast, their punky take on Romany folk communicated pure joy.

Iggy, who appeared in a finely tailored suit, closed the show, first by offering the poems, I Talked To A Smart Guy and Mom and Dad are Gone. On each, his incantations were accompanied by Suso’s kora and the string quartet. Both readings dealt with the spiritual consequences of ambition. The latter also pondered legacy, extending the theme of Iggy’s forthcoming album with Josh Homme, Post-Pop Depression. Only in a setting as accepting as this could the star get away with moves this personal.

After delivering the more accessible Jean Genie in all it’s blues-rock bluster, the whole cast joined Iggy on a song he wrote with Bowie, Tonight. Sharon Jones inhabited the part taken by Tina Turner in Bowie’s recording of the piece. The songs’ lyrics deal with savoring life in the wake of a death, offering the perfect nod to a departed spirit that, on this night, seemed so present.