Franzine Cole “Zee” Salas is a joy in the family. She is the daughter of my older brother. From the moment she started talking, we knew she has gotten the singing genes of the Salas clan.
My mom used to tag along with her the title “songbird” of Argao (our town) because she managed to defend her championship title for 12 consecutive weeks in a singing competition during her teenage years. When she had us, her four children, mom made certain all of us could sing. No wonder we had our share of fame too — either from home-based singing contests or from out-of-town gigs.
Among us four, my youngest brother had the spotlight for so long. He’s the one who was seen often on national TV singing. He’s the one who made a name out of singing. But he stopped after a couple of years. He is now focused on finishing his graduate studies on Linguistics.
My older brother is still into it. He is presently a member of the town’s band, him as the vocalist. Whenever his group has concerts, he makes sure Franzine Cole gets the front seat to watch him. The last time I called home 2 weeks ago, Zee sang on the phone, just for me. She is only four years old but when she started singing, oh my, the voice was so angelic. She sang four songs, one was a Celine Dion song. She said she has been singing in school.
I miss my little Zee.
I had these videos of Zee taken when she was still 2 years old.
