Bay Area siblings behind The Osada3

OAKLAND, Calif. - For Bay Area sibling trio The Osada3, music is more than performance, it’s family history, culture and community woven into every song.

The band

Why you should care:

The teen band, made up of siblings Osiris, Zolia and Milani, has spent the last several years creating a sound inspired by hip-hop, R&B, soul and island reggae while also honoring their Japanese and Filipino roots.

Born and raised in the Bay Area, the siblings formed the band in 2020. 

Seventeen-year-old Osiris plays bass, guitar and vocals. Sixteen-year-old Zolia performs on keyboards and lead vocals, while 14-year-old Milani plays drums and vocals. Together, the three also write and produce original music.

What surprises many people is that their musical journey was largely self-driven.

Family history 

Big picture view:

Their parents are not professional musicians, but the siblings discovered music together and built the group on their own.
The family’s history, however, has become central to their songwriting and purpose.

"Well, specifically focusing on the Japanese side, I’m really proud of my Japanese side because it’s built off sacrifice and resilience," Osiris said. "Going through the internment camps and coming out of that, building from the ground up."

Osiris says one of the biggest inspirations is his great-grandfather Joe Osada, who helped establish the Suisun Valley Nisei Club in Fairfield after World War II.

The club became a gathering place for Japanese Americans rebuilding communities after internment camps displaced families and destroyed livelihoods during the war.

The Osada family’s roots in California date back generations. 

Their great-great-grandfather immigrated to the United States and worked in Suisun Valley before eventually building a life through farming and orchards. That progress was interrupted during WWII when the family, like thousands of Japanese Americans, was forced into internment camps.

After the war, Joe Osada helped create the Nisei Club to reconnect Japanese American families and farmers during a time of lingering discrimination and isolation.

Today, The Osada3 hopes to continue that spirit of connection for a new generation.

"I think the big thing I want to honor is not only bringing that space alive again and honoring the past, but also providing a space for people in the future too," Osiris said.

Their Filipino heritage also helped shape the values behind the band.

Their grandfather emigrated from the Philippines as part of a professional wave of immigration to the United States. 

Family members say his home became a welcoming place for newly arrived immigrants trying to establish themselves in America.

Homeschooled, creative collaboration

The siblings say they inherited a strong work ethic, love of learning and commitment to community from both sides of their family.

Despite being the oldest, Osiris says there is no single leader in the band.

"Definitely one-third, one-third, one-third," he said. "We all lead together and we all push each other to our greatest limits."

The trio credits homeschooling with helping strengthen both their family bond and creative collaboration.

"It definitely helps us being homeschooled because we’re all together at home," Zolia said. "We get to collaborate with each other, and we kind of share the same music taste."

The group recently performed live at KTVU, showcasing an original song titled "Love Letter."

"‘Love Letter’ was written by Zoe," Osiris said. "It’s about someone who likes another person but is afraid to tell them their feelings, so they write it in a letter instead."

As AANHPI Heritage Month celebrations continue across the Bay Area, The Osada3 says they hope their music can honor the generations before them while helping create community for future generations as well.

The trio recently performed in downtown San Francisco during an AANHPI celebration hosted by Andy Fremier and the staff at the Bay Area Metro Center.

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