In an interview with game consultant Indie Game Joe, Counter-Strike co-creator Minh Le revealed a hilarious anecdote about Valve boss Gabe Newell that’s going viral for just how absurd it is.
Le claimed that, at one point during his tenure, Newell became so enamored with the concept of Mongolian throat singing that he couldn’t stop practicing it in Valve’s corporate offices — to the point where his employees started closing their office doors to avoid the noise.
If you’re not familiar with Mongolian throat singing, it’s a vocal technique most popularly associated with the people of Tuvan, a region in Russia located northwest of Mongolia. The Tuvan people call it Khöömei, and it’s achieved by using circular breathing to produce two or more notes simultaneously. It’s a seriously impressive talent that has become popularized over time, and has been utilized in a number of famous films and TV series (like the Sardaukar chant in the first Dune movie, for example).
Apparently, Newell wanted to try it out for himself — but his choice to practice in the workplace wasn’t necessarily conducive to a collaborative work environment.
“At one point, he got into Mongolian throat singing,” Le explained . “In Mongolia, they have these throat singers that sing really interestingly, just using their throats. Gabe watched this documentary on them. He got really fascinated with this concept, and he started to practice that. He was doing it throughout the office. He would just walk around the halls doing this throat-singing thing.
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