Barbershop quartet harmony has a long history, but we’re not sure where it originated. It was popular back in the early 1900s and it’s still a favorite today, at least among us old folks.
It is somewhat of an acoustic phenomenon, because you’ll never hear such harmony from keyboards. Why? They aren’t tuned quite right for this effect.
We have no choice but to hear it a capella, Italian for “in the manner of the chapel.”
