Dynamic MC Duo
GCAMM 2023 is pleased to announce our plenary MCs.
Dr. Jean Ngoya Kidula
has a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology and is an accomplished musician in a variety of styles. She is professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Georgia in the United States. She is the author of numerous scholarly articles on topics in Kenyan music and history. Recently Dr. Kidula was awarded the African Music Section (AfMS) Kwabena Nketia Book Prize! This prize recognizes the most distinguished book or monograph on the topic of African and African diasporan music published over the previous four years. Her award-winning book entitled, Music in Kenyan Christianity: Logooli Religious Song (Indiana University Press, 2013) explores the history of a community through music and religious expressions in local, national, and global settings. In addition, she has served as music director at churches in both Nairobi, Kenya and in the United States. Attendees of the 2006 Global Consultation on Music and Missions will remember with fondness her humorous partnership with Frank Fortunato as the Masters in Ceremony.
Dr. Frank Fortunato
has been a career music missionary with Operation Mobilization, serving on the mission ships of OM and involved in worship leadership with various global ministries. He co-founded OM’s Heart Sounds International, sending teams to release indigenous worship with audio and video recordings in restricted nations. He serves as the co-director of the GROW (Global Renewal of Worship) Center for the Robert E. Webber Institute of Worship Studies. He has helped start global music and worship networks and has led worship in Atlanta-area churches. He enjoys teaching improvisational keyboard techniques and promoting the use of hymns as part of contemporary worship.