“El Mariachi” translates to the word “musician.” It originally came from the movie “El Mariachi” which was about a guy who sang romance but nobody liked that about him–but he never cared and continued to sing romance wherever he went and whenever he sang.

One states that it comes from the name of the wood used to make the dance platform. Another states that mariachi comes from the indigenous name of a tree called pilla or cirimo; yet another states that it came from an image locally called María H (pronounced Mari-Ache).

The mariachi orchestra emerged in the late 1700s or early 1800s in west-central Mexico. The word mariachi may have come from the now-extinct language of the Coca Indians, but both the word's etymology and the early history of the form and its followers are unknown.

The Vihuela Mexicana provides and maintains the tonality for the ensemble, which is the pitch preference. The Guitarrón, Vihuela Mexicana and Guitar together are commonly referred to as the rhythm section or las armonías). The Vihuela Mexicana was the instrument preferred by the mariachi musicians in central Jalisco.