'Finding good and peace': Man discovered playing rundown piano in Winnipeg mall

He's been bumped around through foster families and government care, living on reserves and in urban communities, butXavier Kennedy has finally found a place he belongs the keys of a piano.

And a fluke discovery now has him on a path to perfecting his love and dreaming of a career.

"It was unexpected.It's been something I've been waiting for," said the20-year-old, originally from Bloodvein First Nation, who visited CBC on Friday to play a grand piano and tell his story in short, shy bursts of words.

He first saw a piano at age nine, inside the home of one of his foster parents, and began plinking on the bright keys.

"As soon as I'dseen the piano I wanted to play," he said, explaining how he fell in love with the resonant sound.

Unfortunately, as it goes with kids in governmentcare, Kennedy was soon moved. And moved again. And again.

The sound of the piano faded, but the passion didn't.

"It just took away the opportunities," he said about the moving.

About a year ago, he discovered the free, rundown upright piano in the atrium of a downtown Winnipeg shopping centre.

He began to visit often and was there one day in early Februarywhen Martha Troian, a journalist at APTNand formerly of CBC, waswalking past and heard the music.

She briefly chatted with Kennedy and took a video that was posted on Instagram.

I just like to play from the heart and hope that everyone feels the same way I do.- Xavier Kennedy

Troian's friend,musician Tara Williamson, saw it and was immediately moved by Kennedy's talent, more so when she learned he was self-taught.

Williamson got in touch with Kennedy and learned hehad no other access to a piano. He watched videos on YouTube and honed his own raw compositions in the middle of the mall.

"To know that somebody's self-taught, having the determination to go to a place where there's a free piano, he fit the description of a true artist, which is 'when I can't not do it,'" said Williamson.

Kennedy said helearned how to play by sound and he "knows most of the scales,"which allows him to improviseand createwhat he calls a freestyle method.

It has given him an entirely new focus in his life.

WatchXavier Kennedy play a grand piano in a studio at CBC in Winnipeg:

Self-taught pianist gets pro support

6 years ago

Duration 0:57

Self-taught pianist Xavier Kennedy was discovered playing a public piano in the mall and has caught the attention of local music producers.

"Instead of talking about my past, nowI can write music about it instead," he said, adding that he looks at"finding the good and the peace" through his compositions, such as one called Perfect Love or another he is putting together calledYou Bring Me Joy.

Shortly after meeting Kennedy, Williamson started talking to people and businesses in the city to see how they could helpKennedy.

Music store Long &McQuadequickly offered up three months' worth of free piano lessons and a three-month keyboard rental.

Williamson then started a GoFundMe page to raise money to buy Kennedy piano books and a bus pass.

"And we're going to go buy him headphones today [to plug into the keyboard] so he doesn't drive his roommates nuts," she said with a smile, noting how Kennedy is constantlyplaying.

It's so clear to me that Xavier is meant to make music and I am compelled to help him do that.- Tara Williamson

Kennedy, however, didn't seem to notice,busy playing on the CBC grand piano as ifcreating a soundtrack to Williamson's interview with Information Radio host Marcy Markusa.

"I am moved by his playing and story because I know that my career as a professional musician is a direct result of the support of my family and community. My relatives have always worked hard to help me realize my dream of playing music even in the face of financial barriers and accessibility," Williamson wrote on the GoFundMe page.

"It's so clear to me that Xavier is meant to make music and I am compelled to help him do that."

For his part, Kennedy said he would like to one day play professionally. Until thenand even then, should it happen he wants people to simply enjoy his music.

And he intends to offer it up by continuing to visittherickety, out-of-tune upright with the occasional broken keyin the Portage Place atrium

"I just like to play from the heart and hope that everyone feels the same way I do," he said.

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