David Bowie left his $100 million estate to his wife Iman Abdulmajid Jones and his children, Duncan Jones and Alexandria Zahra Jones, under the terms of the will released Friday.His ashes were to be scattered over Bali in accordance with Buddhist tradition.
Iman received 50 percent of the estate plus Bowie's penthouse apartment in New York's Soho district. He bought the apartment (two, actually, which he combined) for $4 million in 1999. Iman is a former supermodel and a pioneer in ethnic cosmetics.Duncan, Bowie'sson by a previous wife, the former Mary Angela Barnett, received 25 percent of the estate.Alexandria also gets 25 percent (through a trust because she is a minor), as well as Bowie's mountain retreat in upstate New York (Ulster County.)
But why are Bowie'sashes over Bali?Obviously he loved the place.
In 1992, Architectural Digest profiled Bowie's Carribbean estate on the island of Mustique, which he decorated in full Balinese style. The magazine even featured a photo of Bowie in Balinese sarong.Bowie bought a house built by Swedish architect Arne Hasselqvist, and the two created an Indonesian paradise. Bowie told AD that he recruited Robert Litwiller "to start constructing, in a vaguely Indonesian style, a potpourri of all the islands of Indonesia, running the whole gamut, the ring of fire.”
“I wanted my own bit of the ring of fire. I wanted the *sapphire,” he said.
In the early 90's, Bowie was quite smitten with Bali and Indonesia. In 1991, Bowie and Iman attended a ceremony on Java, called Malam Satu Suro, a celebration of the Islamic New Year and the Javanese month of Sura.Also in 1991, Bowie and Tin Machine released an Indonesian version of "You Belong in Rock n Roll," called "Amlapura," the name of a Balinese city.
The song begins:
"Hey, hey it's the tall sail on a beach reach for Java. Make way for to Java watching for boogies. Hey, hey it's a dreaming I would burn you if you should die. Hey, hey I would burn too if you should lie upon that bamboo pyre."
For 1993's "Don't Let Me Down & Down," Bowie sung half the song in Indonesian.
