More than two dozen musicians of Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian and Macedonian heritage gathered for a lively show in Toronto over the weekend to honour Indexi, one of the most influential bands from the Balkans.

The rare, nostalgic event united people of ethnic groups that fought against each other in the bloody civil wars of the 1990s — to celebrate a musical group that conveyed a message of positivity with its wildly popular psychedelic rock music through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Though many of Indexi's original members are now dead, the sentiment the band's music conveys is still alive and well in multicultural Canada.

"We're trying to bring the ex-Yugoslavian community together," organizer Eni Odobasic told CBC News.

"We want everyone from all the [former] republics in one place, to feel the same thing that we're trying to [embody by] being together on stage."

Deana Sumanac reports.