Europe, Headlines

CULTURE-BALKANS: Music Brings New Harmony

Vesna Peric Zimonjic

BELGRADE, Jul 7 2004 (IPS) - For four days in a row, the northern Serbian town of Novi Sad and its beautiful Petrovaradin fortress that overlooks the Danube river became the capital of the Balkans as they hosted the biggest international music festival in the area EXIT.

More than 160,000 people from all over former Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia) attended the festival, with performances on 21 stages. The festival continued into the early hours of Monday.

Young music lovers from Australia and Canada too came to Novi Sad to attend the festival. "We heard that all roads lead to Novi Sad at this time of year," said 23-year-old Jenny Lister from Australia.

"It was something I did not want to miss," added Nenad Ban, a 21-year-old Slovene from Ljubljana.

Groups came by coaches from neighbouring Hungary and Romania. "EXIT is a must," said Petru, a young Romanian as he stepped out from a bus near the fortress. "I’m in a hurry to meet some people I met last year." With a wave he rushed off to one of the meeting points.

"This is something we long wanted to see in Serbia," EXIT spokesperson Aleksandra Kolar told IPS.

International stars with a diversity of music styles from pop or rock to hard metal, Latino rhythm or hip hop performed for four nights before an audience whose average age was 22.

Groups like ‘Massive Attack’ or ‘Cypress Hill’ and ‘Iggy Pop’ were welcomed by mass chanting of their greatest hits by thousands of eager fans. Some of the groups, like ‘Peaches’ or ‘King of Lion’ came to Novi Sad straight from similar festivals in Denmark and Britain.

A bunch of well-known domestic bands also went down well with the audience, although it was sometimes hard to move through the stunning heat in the 17th century fortress even during the night.

Getting close to the stage was an adventure by itself, but good mood prevailed and no incidents were recorded during the festival.

"We want to see them all," said Mirna Basic, a young Croatian. "My parents did not mind when I said I was going to Serbia for four days."

Kolar said "it is our aim to spread good vibrations and show that bridging the gaps is possible. The lights are on again for good relations with everyone."

In the 1990s wars in former Yugoslavia led to some 250,000 deaths. Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia became independent states.

Serbia and Montenegro remained together, but were isolated both by the international community and its neighbours, once members of the Yugoslav state.

Travel from Serbia into former Yugoslav countries became almost impossible, as visas were required by all former ‘brethren states’ in the 1990s. Railroads and highways that once crossed the single country were closed. Traffic was re-established only in 2001, a decade after the wars started.

Dozens of thousands of families with members scattered all over the former homeland were separated in the most brutal manner. All the new regimes tried to prove that people who once lived in a single country had nothing in common after 70 years of common history.

Stereotypes began prevailing, imposed by the ruling elite on all sides.

"For a while, it looked as if the hatred of 1990s will remain the trademark of the newly created states," sociology professor Ratko Bozovic told IPS. "However, life is stronger than that and the curiosity of the young can help mend the fences in a new way."

Like other experts in the field, Bozovic says that such a turn was enabled with the downfall of the regimes that led former Yugoslavia into wars.

After a decade of rule, the key politicians who started the wars disappeared from the political scene by the year 2000. A new generation of leaders with different views about the Balkans is trying to put the past behind.

"We do not deal with politics," Kolar insisted. "It is not our task to mix culture with it, but the new winds that are blowing in the Balkans are showing that new links can be established. That is something where culture can help."

The best proof of EXIT bringing the young closer together was the camp for 6,000 visitors situated near the philosophy faculty of Novi Sad. The tent city was built for those who could not pay for a hotel, or rent rooms.

One could hear a real former Yugoslavia mixture of languages, because Serb, Croatian and Bosnian differ in accents only. Slovene and Macedonian are easily understood with a little effort by Serbs, Croats or Bosniaks. Those who came from other countries spoke English.

"This is a real international spot here," said Janko Stimac (18), from the Croatian capital Zagreb. "Next to our tent on one side there are guys from Macedonia and on the other some fellows from Hungary. That’s so cool."

But EXIT was not all music. Hundreds of youngsters attended seminars and workshops dealing with AIDS and prevention of human trafficking.