Previous Work

Dr. Kim Johnson, 2011 Anthony N. Sabga Laureate for Excellence in Arts & Letters, is the foremost historian of pan. Johnson is a Senior Research Fellow at The Academy for Arts, Letters, Culture and Public Affairs at The University of Trinidad and Tobago.   His ongoing projects include ‘The Virtual Museum of Trinidad and Tobago’ (an online encyclopedia of TT culture, society and history); and ‘Ways of Hearing’, a study of music in the Americas. Johnson’s forthcoming books include Jahaji Tempo: A Biographical Prelude to Indo-Trini Music (UTT Press, 2012).

• 2011: Tinpan to TASPO: Origins of the Steelband Movement 1939-1951 (University of the West Indies Press)
• 2011: The Illustrated Story of Pan , Published by UTT Press.
• The Illustrated Story of Pan, is the definitive pictorial and oral history of the steelband movement.
• 2010: The Audacity of the Creole Imagination. A multi-media pan exhibition, commissioned by the National Museum and Art Gallery included a 13-minute film of the same name, which was screened at the 2010 T&T Film Festival and contained photos, film footage and audio recordings previously unavailable to the public, starting with the first “iron band” recordings of 1940.
• 2007: Descendants of the Dragon (Ian Randle Press)
• 2006: If Yuh Iron Good You is King, (Paria Press Ltd)
• 2003: Renegades; The History of the Renegades Steel Orchestra of Trinidad & Tobago, (Macmillan Ltd)
• 1998: The Fragrance of Gold: Trinidad in the Age of Discovery.
• (School for Continuing Studies, University of the West Indies)