Blues singer Alberta hunter recounts the beginning of her career

Alberta Hunter belted out the blues in Assam in 1944, as she attempted to cheer up US troops building the snaking Ledo Road in the C-B-I region between China, Burma and India. 

By the time she died at the age of 89 in 1984, Alberta Hunter was known as a genuine legend – an elegant granny who would sing bawdy blues tunes with the poise of a minister leading a church choir. She’d toured Europe in 1917, started recording prolifically in the 1920s, and in 1928, performed with the great Paul Robeson in the London version of Showboat. So it isn’t surprising that she caused a storm in Assam, when she showed up with a troupe of musicians in the middle of the Second World War to entertain the African-American soldiers assigned to construct a looping road in the jungle from north-eastern India to Kunming in China.

The Allies began to work on the Ledo Road (later renamed the Stilwell Road after the American general in charge of the operation) in 1942. It would eventually become a 769 km highway, but the construction in the mountainous terrain was arduous. They worked alongside 35,000 Indian and Burmese labourers. Thousands of them perished in the course of their mission.

It was clear that everybody needed a little cheering up, so in August 1944, Alberta Hunter signed up with the United Service Organisations, which worked in partnership with the US defence department to provide entertainment to the troops. She was put in charge of Unit 342, which included a trio from Chicago called the Rhythm Rascals, comprising of Hunter, a dancer and a trumpet player. The group left New York on October 15, 1944.

With Calcutta as a base, the musicians travelled to military sites across the region, in trains and planes and trucks. When the group arrived at the impromptu stages that had been built in forest clearings, the excitement was palpable. “The soldiers would scream so loud you could hear them from here to Berlin,” Hunter recalled. The grand dame would walk out on to stage snapping her fingers and commanding attention. As another member of the group recalled, “Alberta would sign a song like, ‘If I Could Be With You’ and have the men hollering. Then she would holler back at them, ‘Suffer, you dogs’, and they would take it in great fun.”

In between the shows, the musicians chatted with the solders and helped them write letters home. When she gave interviews to the US press, Hunter made certain to mention the names of as many soldiers as she could, keen to let their families know that they were alive. 

Like the men they were entertaining, the musicians sometimes had to face barrages of shells and would have to duck in foxholes to avoid danger. “Despite performing under the most hazardous conditions…I tell you the pleasant smiles that came over the faces of the boys is enough for me,” she said. “Even when a wild tiger jumped into the tent of our troupe and mauled one of our performers, this did not stop us from filling the bookings.” 

Alberta Hunter wrapped up her India tour at the end of March, 1945, taking home her metal meal tray and her denim jacket as a souvenir.

Naresh Fernandes is a music-loving journalist and consulting editor at National Geographic Traveller India.