Shizuko Kasagi/Shuri -- Sentimental Dinah（センチメンタル・ダイナ）

A swing band done in Art Deco.

 

Keeping on the "Uta Con"（うたコン）theme from last article with Yu Sakai（さかいゆう）, there was a performance of an old chestnut that had been done on the currently running NHK morning serial "Boogie Woogie"（ブギウギ）starring Shuri（趣里）. Back in October, when the series just started, there was already some buzz flying about due to the barnstorming onstage performances of the actress as entertainer extraordinaire Suzuko Fukurai（福来スズ子）based on the real-life force-of-nature singer Shizuko Kasagi（笠置シヅ子）. Pretty hopping stuff to see and hear in the morning. The song that set the tone was "Sentimental Dinah".

The song about exhorting young Dinah to get out of her funk and do her singing and dancing whirlwind was written by Kobun Nogawa（野川香文）and composed by Ryoichi Hattori（服部良一）for Kasagi to record in 1940. It certainly starts out in a down-on-your-luck morose way but by the end, things seem to pick up for Dinah at last. 

The above video by Super Retro TV has Kasagi performing "Sentimental Dinah" in 1947. It's interesting to compare the 1940 recording with the 1947 performance on stage in front of a camera considering that the original record had been made right in the middle of World War II with the clampdown on entertainment (except for songs thought amenable by the Imperial government at the time). The 1947 song-and-dance after the war must have felt a lot more freeing for Kasagi.

I'm pretty sure that Shuri's cover of the song was arranged by Takayuki Hattori（服部隆之）, Ryoichi's grandson, who is handling the soundtrack for "Boogie Woogie".