U.S.U.R.A.

U.S.U.R.A. is an Italian electronic dance music project formed in 1992.

The group was founded by Claudio Varola, Michele Comis, and Elisa Spreafichi. The musicians were Walter Cremonini and Alessandro Gilardi. According to other sources, the project was formed by the owner of Time Records, Giacomo Maiolini, with producers Walter Cremonini and Alessandro Gilardi.

The project is best known for its 1992-1993 hit single Open Your Mind. The track incorporates a sampled dialogue from the film “Total Recall” and sampled elements from the 1982 song New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84).

The group was active from 1991 to 1998. For some German and British releases, the name was simply “Usura”. The project is associated with the genres eurodance, italo dance, trance, and hip house.

Among the name variations used are USURA, U. S. U. R. A, U.S.U.R.A, Usura 97, and several other similar spellings.