The 11th of April is National Barbershop Quartet Day, and we have all the information you need to make this a musical celebration. As its name suggests, this genre of music was first recorded in the late 1800s while males waited to have their hair cut. They spent the time in the barbershop by singing and harmonising with the barbers and other customers. Since its introduction in classic barbershops, barbershop music has grown in popularity and been portrayed in film and television. Talented men and women quartets continue to contend nationally and internationally today.
African American history is profoundly rooted in barbershop music. In the South during the 1880s, while waiting for a haircut, men socialised with barbers and others in the store. Together, they sang and harmonised for entertainment. This sound evolved into the genre known as barbershop music and flourished until the early 1900s. A song titled “Play That Barbershop Chord” was recorded and disseminated as a prime example of barbershop harmony in 1910. This art of harmonised singing was intended to produce an a cappella approach without the need for instrumental accompaniment. Each quartet performed songs with simple lyrics and appealing melodies.
After 1929, barbershop music began to decline in popularity, which accelerated during the Great Depression. In 1938, two men, Rupert Hall and O.C. Cash, invited 14 individuals to a songfest and encouraged them to invite others. On April 11, roughly 25 males gathered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to compete in a quartet singing contest. As a result, barbershop music experienced a revival, and the Society of Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc. was established (SPEBSQSA). Since 2004, they are known as the Barbershop Harmony Society, which is a much better name.
In 1945, a woman in Tulsa established Sweet Adelines International, an all-female organisation, not long after the establishment of SPEBSQSA. In 1957, a little less than a decade later, a number of women left the Sweet Adelines in an effort to be more tolerant of African-American members. Five women founded Harmony, Incorporated in Rhode Island in 1959 in response to this act of protest. Diverse men and women are now permitted and accepted in the same quartet, which competes globally.
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Ancient origins
In ancient Egypt, tomb paintings depicting barbers trimming hair and razor artefacts indicate that barbering is an ancient profession.
Human urine as conditioner
The first barbers used a shampoo prepared from stale urine called “lotium.”
Barber surgeons
In addition to trimming hair, barbers in the Middle Ages also treated wounds, performed surgeries, performed dental work, and performed a variety of other tasks.
Hate be gone
Most barbers in ancient cultures were clerics who trimmed, shaved, and styled hair to prevent evil spirits from possessing people.
The miserable grooming pole
The barber pole represents the time when barbers served as surgeons and hung bloody dressings from bloodletting on a pole to dry.
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | April 11 | Tuesday |
| 2024 | April 11 | Thursday |
| 2025 | April 11 | Friday |
| 2026 | April 11 | Saturday |
| 2027 | April 11 | Sunday |
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