Vital energy associated with girl band for instance (8)
I believe the answer is:
mariachi
'band for instance' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'vital energy associated with girl' is the wordplay.
'vital energy' becomes 'chi' (term for life force in Chinese philosophy).
'associated with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'girl' becomes 'maria' ().
'chi' after 'maria' is 'MARIACHI'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mariachi that I've seen before include "Mexican street musician" , "Mexican players" , "one who performs music" , "Source of Mexican music" , "Traditional Mexican folk music" .)