Aryeh Kunstler

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Aryeh Kunstler is an American Orthodox Jewish singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, and composer from New York City. He grew up in Belle Harbor, Queens, in a musical family. His father, Avi Kunstler, and his brother Dani were professional singers, and Dani was part of the Miami Boys Choir. Although Aryeh initially wasn’t drawn to music, he started taking it seriously in seventh grade. He studied at Touro College and Sh’or Yoshuv yeshiva.

In 2004 he began recording with his brother Dani and other singers under the group V’Havieinu, becoming a prominent vocalist and arranger by Vol. 2 in 2006. Kunstler released his debut solo album, From The Depths, in 2007. It was produced by Eli Yona and features Dani and Lenny Solomon, along with a song co-written with Peter Himmelman, “Show Me Your Love.”

That same year he joined the rock band Yaakov Chesed as their bassist after Dovi Salamon left. He toured with the band and played on their albums Rise Above (2007) and The Passage (2009). In 2010 he released his second solo album, Our Eyes Are On You, recorded with producer Nir Zidkyahu.

Kunstler also led a backing group called the Aryeh Kunstler Band (AKB) on tours. The band included Avidon Moscovits, Avromi Spitz, and Eli Staiman, who would later lead The Groggers. He later worked with Staiman, engineering The Groggers’ first album and co-writing the 2014 song “Not Going to Shacharis.”

Other projects include a 2011 remix of his song “Gam” with Hebro and a 2012 cover of Moshav’s “Don’t Give Up.” In 2013 he performed at a fundraising concert with Benny Friedman and Shloime Dachs to aid Belle Harbor after Hurricane Sandy. In December 2019 he released the single “Up Like A Lion,” followed by “Keli” featuring Yosef Karduner a couple of months later.

Kunstler contributed guitar and arrangements to Benny Friedman’s Yesh Tikvah (2012) and appeared in the video for the single “Maaleh Ani.” He also served as a judge at the V’Ata Banim Shiru a cappella competition in 2013 and contributed to The Yess Legacy tribute album with a cover of “Coming Home.”