When Israeli singer Yuval Raphael represents her country at the Eurovision Song Contest in May, there will be at least one other Jewish singer taking the stage in Basel, Switzerland. Asaf (Safael) Mishiev is the frontman of Mamagama, the band selected to represent Azerbaijan – a Muslim-majority country – in the annual music competition.

Mishiev, 32, teaches vocals and guitar at the Jewish Music School in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital. His musical career included a stint as a contestant on Russia’s version of “The Voice” in 2020, where he favored songs by Jewish artists, auditioning with “Reckoning Day” by Israeli singer-songwriter Asaf Avidan – with whom he shares both a first name and a similar-sounding voice – and covering “Rehab” by Amy Winehouse. 

Mamagama is a trio that fuses pop, rock and traditional Azerbaijani music. The band’s official Eurovision page says the name comes from the power of motherhood, “the source of life, the force that nurtures the world,” with “Gama, the full spectrum of sound.” Mishiev and his bandmates bassist Bahruz “Huss” Efendiyev and drummer Allahverdi “Arif” Gumbetli won their first international music competition in 2022, when they were named the best new band in Europe at Albania’s Kënga Magjike festival.

Mamagama’s song has not been unveiled yet, but Mishiev told Jewish Insider that he wrote it as a teenager and updated it to fit more contemporary pop trends. The music integrates traditional Azerbaijani elements and is inspired by “Michael Jackson, Daft Punk, anything funky.” 

Speaking with JI on Wednesday with Huss and Arif on the line to help translate to English, Mishiev said he was “proud” and “speechless” to represent his country in this year’s Eurovision.

“My parents and I were born in Baku, and my grandparents are from the Red Village, where Jewish people are from in Azerbaijan,” he said, referring to one of the only all-Jewish towns outside of Israel.

Mishiev is a Mountain Jew, part of a population that has inhabited the eastern and northern Caucasus, mostly in Azerbaijan and parts of eastern Russia, since the fifth century. Some of the best-known Mountain Jews include Israel’s most popular singers, such as Omer Adam and Sarit Hadad, who represented Israel in the Eurovision in 2002.

The singer told Ynet that he speaks some Hebrew and has visited Israel twice, first on a Birthright trip and then to participate in a competition for Jewish singers. He asked Israelis to support him in the Eurovision, whose rules stipulate that viewers cannot vote for their own country.

Mishiev continues to teach Jewish children to sing and play guitar, and said his students were surprised and excited for him: “They see us as heroes now.” 

He told JI that he is “especially proud to be Jewish and represent Azerbaijan,” which he said is “probably the only Muslim country that has no antisemitism.” 

Asked if he has faced any harassment as a prominent Jew in a Muslim country, at a time of increased antisemitism around the world, Mishiev said: “We live here in peace. Everybody here are my brothers and sisters … We’re free people. If we wanted, we could live in another country, but we live here because [Jews] have no problems here.”

“No matter what is happening in the world right now, taking into consideration all of the current circumstances, at the end of the day we hope to live in peace, love and prosperity,” Mishiev said. “Jewish people should be united and help one another, because all Jewish people are brothers and sisters.” 

Roman Gurevich, the Jewish Agency’s honorary envoy to Azerbaijan, said that the country has “always had a warm and respectful relationship with its Jews for generations.” 

“The Azeri people and Azerbaijan show support even in our hardest times. Now, Azerbaijan is an important and loyal ally of Israel, and this is further proof,” Gurevich said.

A report by IMPACT-se released on Thursday found that Azerbaijan was the first Muslim-majority country to define antisemitism in its textbooks and teach students examples beyond the Holocaust, such as the history of persecution in Tsarist Russia.