Paddy Keenan
Though the Keenan family abandoned the Traveling lifestyle early in Paddy's life, he spent much of his youth contending with discrimination, including regular physical confrontations.At age fourteen, Keenan played his first major concert at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, followed by a few years of touring with a number of musicians, including his father, as "The Pavees."At seventeen, Keenan went to England in an attempt to escape the strictness of his father's household, and ended up busking around London, singing and playing blues and rock songs on guitar for most of the following four years.However, in the 1990s he relocated to North America, rediscovered his musical talents and in 1997 issued Na Keen Affair, recorded at Dadyeen Studios, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.The 2008 documentary Dambé: The Mali Project tells the story of his 3000-mile cross-cultural musical adventure with Liam Ó Maonlaí (Hothouse Flowers) and friends, and features performances from the Festival au Désert.