When the musicians of H’Sao left Chad—their homeland, in north-central Africa—for Montreal 16 years ago, they had to deal with major changes in the fabric of their lives, not least the climate. The shift from one of the hottest, and poorest, countries in the world to Quebec in the full blast of winter was shocking. Though not everything proved so tough.

“We were coming from 40 degrees in the shade to minus 25 or 30!” says Dono Bei Ledjebgue, who plays drums and percussion in H’Sao, reached in Montreal. “Snow and cold isolates you. You don’t go out often, and it’s hard compared to our country where you’re never alone—there’s no place for lonely people. But we came as a band, which helped a lot. And there’s so much happening culturally in Montreal that it made it easy as a musician coming from Africa.”

The three other members of H’Sao are brothers. Guitarist Caleb Rimtobaye is leader of the group; the eldest, Mossbasss, plays bass, and Izra L plays keyboards. All are superbly agile vocalists who learned their skills from their father, a pastor. At an early age the siblings sang and played hymns together, but in time felt the urge to branch into secular music and started composing material with a contemporary sound. Ledjebgue ran into Caleb by chance on the street in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, in his mid-teens, and has been with H’Sao ever since.

The group’s unusual name holds particular significance. “H stands for hirondelle—the French for ‘swallow’, the messenger bird. The Sao were the first people to settle around Lake Chad. We wanted to be the messengers of Chadian people, sharing the social and cultural values of our country with others,” Ledjebgue explains. “Almost all our songs are original—we all write—though we draw inspiration from traditional sources in our country, where there are a huge number of ethnic groups and languages. We listen to all music really—old musicians from Africa as well as U.S. and European artists. So it’s actually a big mix.”

H’Sao has recorded four albums in Canada, which feature the elaborate vocal harmonies that have become the band’s hallmark sound, and also reflect its humble origins. At first only Caleb could afford an instrument, and his guitar was frequently missing strings. “When we got together to make music, often all we had was our voices, and objects that we tapped for percussion,” recalls Ledjebgue. “So we worked with these resources. It’s only really when we started touring overseas—to Europe and then to Canada—that each of us got our own instrument.”

H’Sao’s latest release, Saar, marks a return to that early approach. “Saar means ‘roots’ in my language,” Ledjebgue says. “We wanted to come back to what we were before. On the other albums there are a number of a cappella tracks, but with this one we wanted to put the voices first, so fewer instruments are used.”

Last October H’Sao performed in Spain at the prestigious Womex world-music trade fair, where the group’s tightness and unique vocals made a strong impression and opened new doors overseas. “It’s a market we really want to explore,” notes Ledjebgue. “In September we’ll be doing a big tour in France and Europe. We now have a contract with an agent over there. So we’re crossing fingers and making things happen.”

H’Sao plays the Rickshaw Theatre on Friday (April 7), as part of the Vancouver World Music Festival, which runs from Thursday to Saturday (April 6 to 8) at various venues. For a full schedule, visit the Vancouver World Music Festival website.