"Walkabout long Chinatown" (or "Wakabauti long Chinatown", or "Wakabaot Long Saenataon") is a

folksong Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

from

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

. The

government of Solomon Islands Politics of Solomon Islands takes place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic, constitutional monarchy. Solomon Islands is an independent Commonwealth realm, where executive power is exercised by the government. Le ...

describes it as "the

national song A national anthem is a Patriotism, patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are March (music), marches or hymns in style. The Americas ...

of not only Solomon Islands, but also of

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...

" as a whole.""Wakabauti long Chinatown": The song, the composers, the storyline"
, Office of the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands The song was composed in the 1950s, in the

Pijin language Pijin (Solomons Pidgin or Neo-Solomonic) is a language spoken in Solomon Islands. It is closely related to Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea and Bislama of Vanuatu; these might be considered dialects of a single language. It is also related to T ...

of Solomon Islands, by Edwin Nanau Sitori, Rone Naqu and Jason Que. Subsequently recorded and aired by the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Service, it "immediately became popular"; its popularity was increased when it was recorded by Solomon Dakei, and sung to

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...

during the Duke's visit to the country in 1958. It then "became an international hit when Fiji's most famous entertainer and musician .. Sakiusa Bulicokocoko transformed it from a laid-back island country tune to a

rock-and-roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

number". It can now "be heard all across the Pacific Islands region", and is considered "a classic in the Pacific".MOORE, Clive
"No More Walkabout Long Chinatown: Asian Involvement in the Solomon Islands' Economic and Political Processes"
''in'' DINNEN, Sinclair & FIRTH, Stewart,

', Australian National University, 2008 It was notably sung in 2010 by Victor Ngele, Solomon Islands Ambassador to the Republic of China (

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

), at the conclusion of the Taiwan Study Camp for Future Leaders from Pacific Allies in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

. The song refers to the Chinatown in Honiara, the capital city of Solomon Islands. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, at a time when Honiara was barely a small town, young men would -according to the song- cross Honiara's Chinatown on their way to hospital staff's accommodation on the far end of the town, hoping to meet nurses there. Thus the song "is about romance sought, won, lost or just wished". The song and its title have, at times, inspired academic works, such as M. Bellam's "Walkabout long Chinatown: Aspects of urban and regional development in the British Solomon Islands" (1969),BELLAM, M.E.P., "Walkabout long Chinatown: Aspects of urban and regional development in the British Solomon Islands", ''in'' McCREARY, J.R., ''Papers presented at a Seminar on Urbanisation and Resettlement in the South Pacific'', Wellington: Victoria University, 1969 or Clive Moore's "No More Walkabout Long Chinatown: Asian Involvement in the Solomon Islands' Economic and Political Processes" (2007).

References

{{Authority control 1950s songs Solomon Islands folk songs Year of song missing