Identity
It's a long story. But to cut it short: Y. Bhekhirst is a middle-aged European man who sings - in a lilting, accented voice - odd and strangely expressed songs, mostly about love, transportation, the seasons, and dancing, against a sparse musical background. As far as anyone has discovered, the entirety of his published musical recordings is a single and a cassette, both titled "Hot In The Airport", with ten songs in total, released in 1986 in New York on the label HDG Records.
History
While not quite as reclusive as Jandek once was, Y.'s methods are just as uncompromisingly DIY. Having self-published, and then re-published, his single and cassette, Y. apparently went around to various New York music stores, introduced himself as "Y. Bhekhirst", handed over the cassette, and then left.
Sometime in the 1990s, or maybe even earlier (it appears that the tape had a second pressing in 1994), the single fell into the hands of the presenters of the "Incorrect Music" show (on WFMU), and was played repeatedly and to some acclaim. In 1999, someone passed the cassette onto them, and songs from it were played on air frequently. The mystery of Y.'s identity, as well as the identities of his apparent collaborators - H. Diaz, Al Pol, and so on - were debated at length. No theory seemed to account for all the bizarre features of Y.'s recordings. The question of Y.'s ethnic identity also fascinated people: some suggestions, based mostly on his accent, were Belgian, Dutch, French, German, Indian, and Spanish.
In late 2003, however, blogger Phil took the very logical step of looking up Y.'s name in US copyright records. This seemed to reveal the following things:
Before this gets even more confusing, have a look at the relevant copyright records. You'll note that when Y. Bhekhirst is mentioned, he's supposedly a different person, born in 1952. But you'll also note that JHDG has written all of the songs (words and music) that Y. supposedly performs. It's probably safer to assume that Y. Bhekhirst is a fictional individual. Note furthermore that the HDG logo on the cassette cover is supposedly trademarked, but doesn't show up in the US trademark database.
Names
For starters, here is the list of the eighteen names used in the Y. Bhekhirst oeuvre:
Y. Bhekhirst Y. Bherhirst P. Diaz Pepe H. Diaz Jose Hugo Diaz Guzman J. Hugo Diaz Guzman Hugo Diazg Guzman Jose Hugo DiazzGuzman Hugo Diaz G. Hugo Diaz H. Diaz H. Diazg Al Pheol Al Pol Al Phool Al Phol Ah Pol Al Phooz
At least Jose Hugo Diaz Guzman is a reasonably normal Hispanic name, and Pepe could be a nickname. "Bhekhirst" is rather stranger. No-one else seems to share the name, although it's a modification of "Beckhurst", "Beekhoorst", and other such English and Dutch names. As for "Al Pol" etc., your guess is as good as mine...
Finally, here's a fun piece of word salad from Phil:- Take YBHEKHIRST and divide into YBHE, KHIRST.
- Take YBHE and apply this simple cipher: take each letter and alternately
change it into the letter after or before it in the alphabet. You get ZAID ->
DIAZ backwards!
- That leaves KHIRST which can be anagrammed in various interesting and
possibly relevant ways: KHRIST, T. KRISH, etc.
