Carmelita Aubert (born 1912 - died 1979) was a Catalan rumba and tango singer. She was very active during the second republic.
She began very young as a singer, performing successfully all over Spain, alone or paired with comedians of the calibre of Alady. Curiously, being Catalan, she specialised in the interpretation of tangos, competing with the few female voices, such as the sisters Tania and Libertad Lamarque from Argentina.
Among the most outstanding events in Carmelita's career was her participation in 1935 in "Abajo los hombres", a film considered to be the first Spanish musical. One of the film's songs, entitled "Clemencia", was censored for radio broadcasting because it could be understood as a plea for freedom for those imprisoned during the Asturian uprising of October of the previous year.
The military uprising of July 1936 caught her on tour in Portugal, where she decided to stay as a revue star. She returned to Spain in 1944 with the idea of making a film and recording records, but it turned out to be a troubled return. On arriving in Madrid she was arrested, and only the many protests received from Portuguese artists led to her release 20 days later, sending her back to the neighbouring country, where she was received with great acclaim. She would only return to her homeland as a tourist, and died in Portugal in 1979.
