The conflict in Syria has reached another grim milestone—four million have fled the country since the start of the civil war in 2011. In those four years, the Syrian-American composer Malek Jandali has evolved from classical musician to passionate activist in support of the Syrian Revolution. In January, he captured the musical essence of his homeland and performed Syrian Symphony in his Carnegie Hall debut. "I'm taking my heritage as is, and putting it in symphonic form," he says in this documentary. A warning: Some of the images that appear in this film are graphic in nature.

This film appears in the inaugural issue of Newest Americans, a collaboration between Rutgers University-Newark, Talking Eyes, and VII Photo centered around America's changing demographics. More information can be found on the Facebook page and Twitter account. This short film is part of an ongoing series on The Atlantic from Talking Eyes Media about movement, location, and identity called State of Migration.