Team Blood cooking up ah Soca 4.0 pot!

Lots of energy. Lots of excitement. Lots of colour! That’s what patrons can expect from Anderson ‘Mr. Blood’ Anderson’s team when they hit the 98.1 The One Soca 4.0 stage on Sunday, August 6th, at the new amphitheatre venue at the National Botanical Gardens.

The singer/songwriter/producer/actor) icon is excited about the National Cultural Foundation-produced event a first for the 2023 Crop Over season which has been described as “exceeding expectations.”

With Soca 4.0 falling on Kadooment eve, it evoked memories of Cohobblopot-past to Mr. Blood.

“That was where the culmination of everything that happened throughout the season came together on that particular night. And showcased it to the entire world,” he said.

He revealed his set would cook up a bit of ‘pot-stalgia – taking you, through song, from way back when they had the King and Queen of the Crop. He plans to show up as his usual effervescent self, fuelled by his love for entertaining the masses throughout the years.

The planned set, he revealed, will take inspiration from, and be a celebration of, the national festival he has witnessed grow for over the past four decades.

It was in the calypso arena where, then, Young Blood would make his name with Sport Billie. Then, in 1985, at age 17, he was the youngest person ever to make the National Calypso Finals.

Armed with his trademark wide smile, Anderson would take his career to another level by being a founding member, lead vocalist and guitarist of Square One – one of the Caribbean’s most prominent touring bands who conquered the world with hit songs like De Plumber, Kitty Kat, ‘Pokemon, Raggamuffin.

As a solo act, he would capture Crop Over success with wins in the Party Monarch (2001 & 2010), Sweet Soca Monarch (2013), Soca Royale (2010), Tune of the Crop (2010), and Pic o De Crop (2018). He also captured the Party Monarch and Tune of the Crop crowns (2013) as one half of Soca Kartel – the dynamic duo of himself and powerhouse Michael Mikey Mercer.

Mr Blood had this to say about his team:

• King of the Road The Mighty Grynner – “From the time I got into this business… I was working with him and we’re great friends.”
• Mikey – “I hope to recreate the ‘Kartel connection’ with Mikey.”
• Faith Callendar – “She started in this industry with me. I recorded her first track.”
• Scrilla – “One of the bashment artistes that I admire a lot.”
• Junior Soca Monarch 2023 First Runner-up, Trinity – “When she decided she wanted to do some soca this year, one of the people she decided to contact was me.”
• Baje to the World Season Three winner, Kyrique – “I was his mentor throughout that competition.”

“We’ve got a really tight dynamic team of good performers,” Mr Blood said.

Kyrique agrees, and can’t wait to perform with a legacy act who he has grown a deeper admiration for.

“I would always tell persons, through that experience of Baje to the World, I didn’t only get a mentor, but to me Mr. Blood is a father figure,” he said of the writer and producer of his Crop Over 2023 song, Shell It.

“So for me, being able to perform with him on stage within a couple of weeks, it will be very exciting… I guess it would bring it full circle for me. The anticipation for the show is extremely high.

“Everywhere I go, people [are] asking me about the show, and talking about the show. There are groups of people who I have met who said that this is the show that they want; they don’t want to miss [it],” he added.

98.1 The One Soca 4.0 takes place at the National Botanical Gardens on Sunday, August 6th. Visit the National Cultural Foundation, at ncf.bb or on social media, for further event updates. (PR)