Joe Srouji was born in Staten Island N.Y on March 14 , 1979 . At the age of 12, he began showing a strong  interest in Middle Eastern music . Fortunate enough to have come from a family of musicians, he was given a great opportunity to learn the traditional styles of Middle Eastern percussion. At this time, he began attending as many performances as he could. As beautiful as the music was, he could only single out one instrument that from day one had him hooked. That was the Tabla . Given his first drum not to long after by his uncle, he began learning the art of percussion and polishing his skills. Four years went by with practice every day , the time came to finally break the ice and perform. His first performance ever was New Years Eve 1996 to a crowd of over 300 people .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Now with a feeling of  great pride and accomplishment, Joe took his music from just a hobby to an obsession. The feeling of making people dance to a beat that he created is far to much to ignore . While practicing never stopped, he was now taking live performances in both the United States and Canada. Party after party ,club after club and event after event, with every beat came knowledge. With every performance came confidence. But something was missing. He started looking at different sides of the drum and where he could make it and himself shine. This is when the interest in belly dance drum solos, workshops and shows started. He started studying artists like Sitrak and Said el Artist , even though nothing really came from it until almost 2005.By the mid 2000s, Joe started performing at belly dance studio galas and shows. With this new type of style came many demands such as syncopation and percussion highlights for a dancer to move to with in the music. This was it for him. NOTHING COULD BE BETTER!!!! The concept of a dancer and a drummer taking something so random and making it look like it was preplanned, was unreal and so it started.Today, Joe still is active in the traditional Middle Eastern weddings and events, but now he is primarily working with a variety of wonderful belly dance schools and adding a live drum to their classes and performing along with them in shows across the North Eastern United states and parts of Canada.
       Joe Srouji is a member of one of the finest tradtional Middle Eastern Bands. Layali El Sharq was founded by its  Keyboardist Simoun Abu- Rahmoun.  On August 7, 2010 Layali El Sharq was given the honor to perform live with the legend herself, none other than Fifi Abdo. For more information please visit www.layalielsharq.com .