Wayne Smith’s first recording: before ‘Under Mi Sleng Teng’

Recorded at Channel One Studios and mixed at King Tubby’s, Zarro rides the same backing track as Lacksley Castell’s What A Great Day. Smith’s version has never been officially released. For years, it was only occasionally heard on King Jammy’s Super Power Soundsystem in Jamaica. Now, this early piece of Smith’s history finally gets a proper release on 7″ vinyl.

And there’s another treat on the flip: an unreleased, stripped-down drum-and-bass dub mixed by Jammy himself. The package keeps things suitably authentic too, with the original Jammy’s red-label design and a fresh custom sleeve.

The title Zarro refers to Zorro, the masked vigilante from the popular TV and film Westerns of the 1950s and ’60s. Smith sings about the character he knew from the “late night movies.”

Listening to Zarro today, it’s hard not to think about what was still to come. Smith would record some strong, underrated material for Jammy, including Youthman Skanking and Smoker Super, before Under Mi Sleng Teng and its revolutionary digital riddim changed reggae and dancehall forever.

That makes Zarro more than just another archival release. It captures Wayne Smith at the very beginning, raw and youthful, before he became one of the artists who helped reshape Jamaican music. For collectors and anyone fascinated by the history of digital dancehall, this 7″ single is well worth having.