By Matthew Price BBC correspondent in the Balkans

In the north Yugoslav town of Novi Sad, hundreds of thousands of young people have gathered for a music festival which the organisers hope will help to repair relations between people from across the region.

The festival grew out of a student movement opposed to Milosevic

Music fans from across the former Yugoslavia have travelled to the event, which is called Exit.

This weekend sees the culmination of the nine-day-long festival.

Over the week it is thought about half a million people have attended the event.

This weekend, each day is expected to attract 50,000, many from across the former Yugoslavia.

There are Croats, Slovenes, Bosnians, Macedonians and Serbs, all partying together.

Political message

And then there are the musicians. Milais is from one of Croatia's most popular bands.

There are still things that need to be fixed up, and a multi-cultural society is definitely one of them

Organiser Boyan Boskevic

"There are a lot of people in Croatia who think that it is not good to play in Serbia if you are a Croatian band," he said.

"But I don't want to wait ten more years to visit this beautiful country, and its beautiful people."

The Exit Festival grew out of Otpor, the student movement, which opposed the regime of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

And there is still a political message here; greater openness with the West and greater freedom for young people.

Positive start

Boyan Boskevic is one of the organisers, and he says the fact that Mr Milosevic has gone does not necessarily mean that something significant has changed in the mind of the people.

"There are still things that need to be changed," he said.

"There are still things that need to be fixed up, and a multi-cultural society is definitely one of them."

It may seem a lofty ambition, trying to change the social and political culture here through a mere music event.

But by simply bringing together people who just a few years ago could never have hoped to meet each other, the organisers feel it is a positive start.