JANE BIRKIN sings SERGE GAINSBOURG ”Via Japan”

She played a deaf mute in Graham Greene’s “Carving a Statue,” posed naked handcuffed to a radiator, marched in demonstrations against the death penalty, inspired a Hermès bag and sang for children in the Palestinian territories.

But Jane Birkin, 64, is primarily known here as the lover and muse of Serge Gainsbourg, one of the most influential French songwriters. An actress, singer and activist who charmed France, where she settled more than 40 years ago, with her adolescent looks and carefully tuned British accent, Ms Birkin built much of her career performing Gainsbourg’s musical repertory, even after his death in 1991.

Over 45 years, she has recorded 14 studio albums; 5 live albums of Gainsbourg’s songs or those largely inspired by him; and collaborated with performers including Feist, Paolo Conte, Beth Gibbons, Bryan Ferry, Rufus Wainwright, Franz Ferdinand and Johnny Marr from the Smiths. She directed the 2007 movie “Boxes.” With Gainsbourg she also had a daughter, Charlotte Gainsbourg, an actress and singer whose performances, notably in the movies of the Danish director Lars von Trier, have received critical acclaim.

Ms Birkin has often sung Gainsbourg’s famous “Élisa” or “Couleur Café” in concerts in recent years to raise money for victims of the earthquake in Haiti or the tsunami in Japan. On 21. Jan her current tour, “Serge Gainsbourg and Jane via Japan,” will come to Kino Šiška

The musical arrangements will be supervised by Nobu, the Japanese pianist and arranger. The show is not a benefit, though she said there would be “a little kitty in the foyer” for those wishing to make donations. Here are edited excerpts from a conversation with Ms. Birkin.